Cant Handle This
by Marvel Is My Obsession
Summary: "We're Iron Man and Captain America. There's nothing we can't handle." Or at least, that's what Tony Stark thought. Never once had he cared what the world could throw at him. Somehow, he always made it through. But these turn of events may be the hardest he's ever had to deal with. Rated T for language. Please enjoy and review! Thanks :)
1. Chapter 1

Tony was working on some upgrades to some random piece of machinery, mostly welding new things on, when JARVIS chimed in. "Sir, there's someone at the door requesting your presence."

"Who is it?" Tony asked without turning off the welder or looking away.

"A woman," JARVIS replied. "But she will not identify herself to me."

"A woman?" Tony asked. "Well that can't be good. Do you have her on file? Has she been here before?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I do not have her on file."

"Is she pissed?" he asked as he turned off the welder and leaned back to admire his work.

"I'm reading signs of anxiety and nervousness. Shall I let her in?"

"Let me get cleaned up first and I'll let her in myself."

"Her who?" Tony spun around and looked at Steve, who didn't look very excited. Tony lifted his welding goggles and smiled.

"Hey," he said. "I have a woman coming over. But it's not what you think."

"Who is she?"

"You know, I don't know. Want to help me find out?"

"Helping you find out? Tony, is this safe, let alone right?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Tony asked as he wiped the grease off his face with his shirt and promptly removed it. "Come on, Steve. We're Iron Man and Captain America. There's nothing we can't handle. Besides, it's probably a fan or someone. JARVIS said she was nervous, so there probably isn't a threat. Right JARVIS?"

"With that logic sir, how could you be wrong?"

Steve looked up at the ceiling where he always pictured JARVIS, and then back at Tony. "You really want to do this? You really think this is safe?"

"No, not really. But it'll be fun." Tony grabbed a clean shirt and pulled it on. "Come on. She's probably sick of waiting for us."

Tony went up the stairs with Steve close on his heels. After turning plenty of corners, they finally reached the front door. Tony turned to Steve one last time, gave a reassuring smile, and opened the door.

The girl, for she was not yet a woman, smiled shyly at Tony. "Hi," she said in almost in out-of-breath fashion.

"Come in," Tony replied. The young lady walked in and seemed a little in shock at the sight of the entryway. "What can I do for you?"

"Um," the girl said as she stared at the interior.

Tony chuckled. "Not used to rich living?"

She just shook her head, and then turned to Tony. "I know this'll probably be a shock to you-"

"Try me," he interjected. "There's nothing I can't handle." Tony looked over at Steve and gave a cocky smile.

"I'm your daughter."

His face fell, and the rest of his body followed.


	2. Chapter 2

As Tony came to, Steve started to relax a little bit. He wasn't even able to be happy for Tony in the time it took for him to register that he had a daughter to passing out from utter shock. But how could he possibly be shocked? With all the women he slept with, wouldn't he be used to this kind of thing? Steve thought there would've been more kids forming a line behind her.  
Tony groaned and sat up with his hand behind his head, probably on a sore spot. He looked up at Steve, and then turned his gaze to the young lady standing next to him.

He paused, looked her over, and then asked with a confused look: "Daughter?" she nodded and Tony nodded with her. "Right. Not drunk. JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Any damage?"

"Other than temporary shock, sir, you're fine."

Tony nodded again and tried to stand, only to have Steve grab him. "Oh, no. You're not ready to get up yet. You took quite a tumble." Tony sighed and looked at Steve, clearly annoyed. "I mean it, Tony. It's best for you to just lie down for a bit."

"You may have a concussion," Tony's daughter said. She leaned in closer, grabbed him by the chin, and examined his features, primarily his eyes. "Slight dilation. Do you have a headache or dizziness?"

"Look, lady," he said. "I know the signs of a concussion; I can handle myself perfectly well."

"Gee thanks. I was just trying to help."

Tony sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Steve cleared his throat and shifted slightly. "I'm going to go grab an ice pack from the freezer. Keep an eye on him."

"I'll keep both on him."

Steve walked away towards the kitchen, hoping that he would be in good hands.

Tony wasn't exactly happy with being babied like this. "So what's your name?" he asked.

"Antoinette," she replied.

"Antoinette," he repeated. "I like that."

"Thanks, Dad."

Tony covered his ears and made a displeased sound. "No, don't call me that!"

Antoinette, shocked, looked back at him. "Then what do I call you?"

"Well I'll call you Antoinette and you can call me Tony. Fair enough?"

Before she could respond, a set of footsteps came up the stairs. A man wearing a suit coat with a partially unbuttoned shirt came in to view. "Tony? What happened?"

Tony sighed. "I fell. No big deal."

"Loss of consciousness?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, I lost consciousness. But there's not need to-"

"There seem to be signs of a concussion," Antoinette interjected.

The man looked at her with confusion. "You recognize the signs?" she nodded. "I don't believe we've met," the doctor extended a hand out to her. "I'm Dr. Banner."

" _Bruce_ Banner? As in, the Dr. Bruce Banner that's done the leading research in gamma radiation?"

He chuckled. "That's me."

Antoinette grabbed his hand. "I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm very familiar with your work and I'm extremely impressed. Even with the accident, I think you're still one of the best researchers and scientists in the world."

"It's nice to have a fan," Bruce said with a smile. "Even with my…record. What's your name?"

"Antoinette Miller, sir."

"Well, Antoinette, I'm very pleased to meet you. Anything unusual happening to Tony, here?"

"Well, I don't know if he usually confuses stressful situations with drunkenness-"

"I do." Tony said impatiently.

"Then other than slight dilation of his pupils, I see no signs. Everything else, he would have to tell me about."

"No vomiting?"

"Not yet."

"Yet?" Tony asked.

"No memory loss?"

"Again, not yet."

"Yet?" Tony interjected again, clearly becoming frustrated that he was being ignored.

"Not slurring any words?"

"Not yet."

"Why is everything always 'not yet?!' Do you really think this is all going to happen?!" Tony exclaimed.

"He's fine," Dr. Banner said calmly with a smile on his face.

Steve came back with an ice pack and placed it on the back of his head. "Better?" Tony only grumbled in response. He looked over at Antoinette. "Do you need anything, miss?"

"No, thank you," she said. "I'll be fine. I'm just going to stay here a while and make sure Dad's okay."

"I told you not to call me 'dad.'"

"Wait, she's your daughter?"

"Banner, that's none of your business. Why don't you go to the other room and get me a  
Scotch. I'm starving." Antoinette stared at him in surprise. "So who's your mom? The name Miller doesn't give me any help."

"Claire Miller. She said that she was the longest staying woman in the Stark home. Three days."

His eyes went wide. "Oh," he said, obviously shocked. "Her. Claire."

"She told me that if I ever went to go find you, she'd be coming with me. Thankfully I left while she was out buying more magazines to cut your picture out of." When Tony stared at her blankly, she continued. "She has a shrine set up for you. She adores you like you're a god."

"Yup. That's Claire." Tony said as he drank from his glass. He took a breath and looked back at his daughter. "So how did you know where to find me?"

"Please," she said. "You're the only guy to have his name in giant letters on one of the tallest buildings in the city. You're not exactly easy to miss."

"Touché."

"Sir," JARVIS said. "I apologize for interrupting, but there is a situation down in the lab."

"What kind of situation?"

"I'm sure you won't need explaining."

Tony stood up, Scotch still in hand. "Right. Steve, Bruce, let's suit up."


	3. Chapter 3

"Does it usually take them this long?" Antoinette asked. She and Pepper were sitting at the kitchen counter with bottles of Coca Cola in hand.

Pepper shook her head. "No, not usually." She said calmly. "But if it's taking this long, it must be very important."

Antoinette took a sip of her pop and sat in silence until Pepper's cell went off. She placed it to her ear. Her voice was too low to hear, but her face told a story on its own. Pepper looked relieved, annoyed, and yet, slightly entertained. Then, her expression suddenly changed. "Will it be safe?" she asked. She listened intently. "Okay, yeah. We'll be down there soon." She set down her phone and looked over at Antoinette. "Tony wants us down in the lab." She said with a small smile.

Antoinette paused, almost unable to wrap her head around it. "We can go to the lab? He's actually letting me go into the lab?" She almost giggled, placing a delicate hand over her smiling lips. She jumped out of her seat and looked at Pepper. "Wait," she said as her smile faded slightly. "You asked if it was safe. What happened?"

Pepper looked down at the tiled floor and sighed. When she looked back up at Antoinette, she was blushing slightly, as if the problem was her own. "Loki was being…mischievous," She chuckled. "Again."

Antoinette looked confused. "Loki? Who's Loki?"

"He's a…" Pepper thought about it for a little while before finally settling on a correct definition. "…friend." A moment passed before Pepper set her bottle on the counter and stood. "Anyway, Tony wants to see you down there."

Antoinette's smile reappeared at the mention of the lab. "Yeah, of course!" She giggled slightly. "Please, lead the way!"

Pepper and Antoinette walked down the stairs and punched in the security code. To Antoinette, this place was a candy land. Tony Stark had all the bells and whistles. Every scientific toy possible and more! Despite the slight damage, the lab was beautiful.

Steve was talking to a younger man with a bow and quiver of arrows when they walked in. Now, he was walking over to Antoinette. "Glad you're here," he gestured to the man behind him. "This is Hawkeye, also known as Agent Clint Barton."

The man with the arrows walked up to her and shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss."

Antoinette blushed ever so slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"Her name is Antoinette," Steve said. "She's Tony's daughter."

"What about my daughter?" Tony called from the other end of the lab. He was wearing the ever famous Iron Man suit, though most of it was already off his body and on a long metal table. He looked at Antoinette and almost smiled. "Oh, you. Great. I want to show you something. Come here."

She looked cautiously from Steve, to Clint, to Pepper, and then finally back to Tony. She made her way there carefully over the broken plaster from the walls. She looked at the corner of the room and saw a man with long black hair and green clothes sitting there looking slightly defeated and disheveled.

She finally reached Tony and looked him in the eye. He held her gaze for a second before dropping down to the table in front of him. "I wanted to show you my most recent project." A robot took the last of his armor off him and he gestured to the open space in front of him. A screen popped up and showed everything from equations to diagrams. "It's…well, I'm not sure what it is yet, but it was something I started working on at three this morning. I was hoping you might be able to help me along." He paused only for a quick breath before continuing. "That is, if you're into this kind of thing. I totally understand if you took after your mother. That's…that's fine."

Antoinette studied the screen in front of her with a finger on her lips. She gestured to the screen and pulled off bits and pieces of the diagrams and made slight adjustments to the equations without saying a word. She spun the 3D model around, making minute changes, and then expanded it to life size. In front of them was a brand new model of the Iron Man suit, looking back at them. "You could do a lot with it," she said. "With some of the modifications I made, you could fly ten times as fast without having to drive all your power to the thrusters, have connections with JARVIS in some parts of space, and maybe even turn invisible with reflector panels."

She looked at the audience around her. All of them had their mouths gaping open in shock, surprise, and amusement, except for Tony. He just looked proud. Then, he turned to Bruce and chuckled. "I think I found myself a new lab buddy."


	4. Chapter 4

Tony hoped desperately that Antoinette liked her room. It had been personally one of his favorites. He hoped that her smile had not been a fake one when as she toted her bag in. he told her too many times to count to ask himself or JARVIS if she needed anything from a clean towel to a more comfortable mattress. He would've offered to repaint the room if she wanted, but for all he knew, she could be leaving tomorrow.

He sat at the kitchen table by himself after Antoinette had said goodnight when Clint and Steve sat down next to him.

"Is everything okay?" Steve asked once he was settled. "You seem kind of…out of it."

Tony looked at the small scars and calluses on his hands. "I...I have a daughter," he said quietly. "After all these years, I have a daughter." He looked up at Steve with tears starting to form. "And after what I've seen, I couldn't be prouder."

"And to think you've just met her," Clint chimed in. "Most parents need an excuse to be proud of their child."

Tony chuckled and looked at Clint. "If they're lucky."

Clint nodded. "If they're lucky," he agreed.

Tony knew about Clint's past. His life had been pretty rough until Coulson found him and brought him to S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve was the only "privileged" child at the table, and his life still wasn't picture perfect.

"Why do you think she came here?" Tony asked after a brief silence.

"I don't know, Tony. Maybe she desperately wanted to meet her dad."

"Or she's running," Clint interjected. The thought sent a shiver of anger up his spin, but for what reason, he wasn't sure. "But when someone runs away, they don't seek out their parents."

"She doesn't seem like that kind of person to just run away," Steve said. "But who knows? Maybe she'll just tell us."

Antoinette woke up in morning not knowing where she was. Then, it finally hit her.

She was with her dad

She got out of the comfortable bed smiling and walked into the kitchen. She saw a large, blonde man sitting at the table with Clint and the man that had been pouting in the corner down in the lab. She stopped in the threshold and watched them talk until Clint noticed her presence.

"Hey!" he exclaimed happily. "Good morning! These are some of our fellow Avengers."

The blonde man stood. "I am Thor Odinson. And this is my brother, Loki, God of Mischief. And you are?"

Antoinette paused, unable to speak. Two gods under one roof? How strange. "Uh…I'm Antoinette. Tony's daughter."

"I didn't know Tony had a daughter."

Antoinette spun around to see a red-headed woman that wasn't Pepper. "I'm Natasha. Don't mind me."

All of a sudden, Antoinette felt very insecure in her cupcake pajamas. She blushed ever so slightly and shuffled into the kitchen itself. "It's great to meet you all," she said quietly. The fridge was kind of bare; less than half a gallon of milk, a half eaten cake with chocolate frosting, and a lone orange. So she tried the cabinets. All she found was pasta and PopTarts with Thor's name on them. She decided not to touch either of those.

"Don't eat Thor's PopTarts." Clint said from directly behind her.

"Didn't plan on it." she replied. "What are we supposed to eat around here?"

"Pancakes." Steve said from the other end of the kitchen. "It's a thing. Clint makes pancakes."

"With what?" she asked. "I don't see any food around here."

"I have a secret pancake ingredient stash. It's hidden in the ceiling because nobody goes into the ceiling." Clint said delightedly.

"So let me get this straight," Antoinette said slowly. "You have a secret pancake stash in the ceiling, but you don't keep the rest of the kitchen stocked?"

"Nope." Clint said seriously. "That's your father's job."

Antoinette shrugged and watched Clint jump onto the counter, then into the ceiling through an air vent. She looked after him, slightly confused.

"He likes high places." Natasha said from the table. "He can see everyone that comes and goes. It's impossible to sneak up on him that way. It makes him…happy."

Clint came back, arms full with everything needed to make and decorate pancakes. He walked around the kitchen like he owned it. And, by the look of all the other's, he basically did. Nobody dared to interfere with Clint and his pancakes.

Antoinette walked over to him slowly and looked over his shoulder. "How are they coming?"

"Don't know." He responded. "Try some."

He hadn't been aiming for her face. He just hadn't realized that she had been standing so close to him. His hand quickly went to his mouth, partially in shock and partially to hold back giggles. "I'm so sorry!" he said quickly.

Antoinette, feeling the need for revenge, grabbed a pancake from off the large plate and held it up. "You hit me in face…with a pancake."

"I'm sorry!" he said, cowering behind the spatula.

She wound up and threw the flapjack in his direction. Clint dodged and the pancake hit Steve square in the back of the head. He spun around, some of the pancake dangling in front of his eyes. "Who threw that?!" he shouted, not exactly sounding angry.

"Loki did it!" Clint shouted with a devilish grin.

"Wait! Did wha-"

The god was interrupted by three pancakes to the face and one to his chest.

"PANCAKE FIGHT!" Natasha shouted as she reached for the plate.

Tony walked into the kitchen to find coffee. What he found was less of a kitchen and more of a war zone.

He stormed up the table and looked at everyone eating their whipped cream covered pancakes. As he looked closer, he noticed that all of them were covered in bits and pieces of other pancakes.

"What happened here?" Tony demanded.

Clint and Antoinette smiled at each other. "I made pancakes" Clint said innocently.


	5. Chapter 5

After the pancake fight, Clint needed to restock his stash of ingredients and Tony just generally needed to restock the kitchen. Apparently, this was a usual thing considering they actually had a "team" that would go to the store. Bruce had elected to drive the grocery team to the store the first time and eventually became the designated driver. Clint never trusted anyone to handle the pancake ingredients and Tony felt he had to go because after all, he was paying for all this. Steve went as sort of a buffer between everyone and because he generally liked grocery shopping.

But this was Antoinette's first time with the team. "So how does this usually work?" she asked.

"We break up into partners, usually," Bruce said. "But sometimes, we divide and conquer."

"What are we doing today?"

Tony and Steve looked at the group, noting the odd number. "Well, I think divide and conquer would be best," Tony said. "But since you're new to this store, you can hang out with me."

Antoinette smiled and nodded. "Okay. Great." she followed the group out to the garage. "What are we driving?"

Tony counted the people he was with and sighed. "Shit," he mumbled. "We're going to have to take the van."

Bruce groaned and stalked off. "I hate driving the van," he muttered under his breath. "Damn thing has terrible power steering."

Antoinette looked at the rest of the crew. "Am I making a problem by coming? I could always stay behind."

"Oh, no!" Clint said from the back of the pack. "It's no trouble. We'd be honored to have you around."

Steve stared at Clint from the corner of his eye. _Honored?_ he thought. He sighed. "Yeah, of course," he said aloud. "It's no trouble."

A loud roaring sound interrupted the conversation. A large, grey Astro Van crept around the corner, rumbling as it went. As it got closer, Antoinette noticed the line of rust near the bottom and the black-tinted windows. A grumpy Bruce sat in the driver's seat as the engine clunked and clattered.

"That?" she asked in disbelief. She turned to Tony and gave him an accusing look. "Couldn't you afford anything better?"

"Of course," Tony said. "I just chose not to. Nobody expects a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist to drive around a great big piece of crap."

"Obviously," Clint mumbled. "At least it's spacious. Can't we just take one of your Hummer limos? Those are spacious, too."

"Take a limo to the grocery store?" Steve asked.

"Not a limo, silly," Clint responded. "A _Hummer_ limo. There's a difference."

"Which one is the Hummer limo?"

"The Captain America themed one."

"Oh," Steve said with blush forming. " _That_ one."

Bruce honked the horn twice and gave an annoyed look as if to say 'Get in losers! We need to go shopping!'

Tony rolled his eyes and opened the sliding side door. "Ladies first," he said like a proper gentleman.

Antoinette smiled and climbed into the back. As she sat down, she saw Clint enter after and sit down next to her with a smile. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"Yes, I do," Tony said. "I'd prefer it if you didn't sit there."

"Oh, Tony," Steve said from behind him. "It's not a big deal. I'm sure Clint will keep his hands to himself."

"Can't make any promises," Clint said with a grin. Antoinette shoved him to the side and tried not to giggle. Tony only sighed and sat in the passenger seat.

"Steve," Tony said with an irritated tone. "Watch them."

The drive to the store was less than eventful, except the one incident when some obsessed fangirl begged Bruce to Hulk out for her. Thankfully, he refused and signed her cleavage instead. Tony swore he would never let him live it down.

The five of them filed out of the van and marched into the store. Clint seemed to disappear instantly towards the cooking aisle. Steve offered to scour the produce section for good, healthy fruits and veggies. Bruce volunteered to pick up enough bread and milk for a small army.

"Hey, Bruce," Tony said. "Could you also pick Thor up some more PopTarts? He's starting to run a little low.

"Will do," he said.

"Don't get distracted by breasts, now," Tony remarked as the good doctor wandered away, shaking his head.

Tony and Antoinette made their way towards the can-goods and ethical foods aisle. The walk  
was silent until Tony finally spoke.

"Do you like shawarma? We have shawarma night every other Wednesday."

Antoinette paused and looked at a packet of taco seasoning. "I've never actually had shawarma before. Come to think of it, I don't think I've even heard that word before today."

"And Chinese food? Anything you do or don't like?"

"Oh, I like Chinese," she said. "Cream cheese wontons are by far my favorite things ever invented. I could live off them."

Tony nodded. "Okay. Dually noted. We'll pick up plenty of cream cheese wontons for you."

The two of them, with plenty of ethnic foods in their basket, wandered over to the junk foods. Tony was chattering about different kinds of licorice when a voice called from down the aisle.

"Toni?!"

Father and daughter turned, looking nearly exactly the same as they did so. Antoinette's eyes lit up as she ran to the group of girls standing near the Lay's potato chips. She laughed and hugged all of them in turn while Tony stood there, flabbergasted.

Antoinette turned to her father, still smiling. He walked to her cautiously, as if these girls were rabid. "Tony?" he asked. "I thought I was Tony. When did you become Tony?"

"I've always been Toni," she said. "That's why my mother named me Antoinette. It…it was kind of a tribute…to you."

"Yeah," one of the girls said. "She's _my_ Toni."

"But don't worry," Antoinette said. "It's spelled with an 'i,' not a 'y.'"

Clint, Steve, and Bruce walked down the aisle and stood near Tony. "Who are these people?" Steve asked.

Toni looked at the guys and smiled. "These are my friends." she gestured to each of the girls. "This is Brooke," she gestured to a girl with black and red hair and facial piercings. "This is CJ," she pointed to a girl with medium-length brown hair and Ray Bands. "And this is Pamplemousse." she gestured to the shortest, and obviously youngest, girl with long brown hair and a Despicable Me shirt.

"PEOPLE!" Pamplemousse shouted with a smile. She ran up to Bruce and hugged him tightly.

Bruce looked over at Tony, who gave him a snide look in return. "Don't you even dare."

"Say what?" Tony said smugly. "I don't need to say anything. She doesn't have cleavage."

"What's cleavage?" Pamplemousse asked into Bruce's chest. She looked up at him with large, puppy dog eyes. "Is it catchy? I don't wanna catch cleavage."

"Pamplemousse," CJ said. "It's time to let go of the nice man. I don't think he appreciates it."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Sorry."

Brooke walked up to Clint, looked him over, and finally spoke. "You're hot. Dibs."

"What? No dibs. You can't call dibs! He's not up for dibs!" Toni said quickly.

"Why not?"

"I like Dibs! They taste delicious!" Pamplemousse interjected.

The whole group fell silent for a minute or two until Tony finally spoke. "We should think about paying and getting back home."

"Can we bring them with us?" Toni asked her dad.

Steve shrugged. "I don't see a problem with it," he said. "Tony?"

He sighed. "Yeah, sure. I don't have any issues with it."

Pamplemousse squealed and hugged Toni with a large smile. "Yay! Thank you thank you  
thank you thank you!" and with that, she ran off towards the checkouts with Brooke and CJ close behind.

Tony looked at his daughter. "You really hang out with those kind of people?"

She shook her head. "No," she said almost somberly. "Just those three. I'm not allowed any other friends."


	6. Chapter 6

"Wow!" Pamplemousse exclaimed in awe. "This place is _huge!_ How do you keep it _clean?_ "

"I have people clean it for me." Tony explained as they hauled the brown paper bags into the Tower.

"I disagree," JARVIS chimed in. "Unless you honestly consider me a person, Mr. Stark."

"You have a guy in the walls?!" Pamplemousse shrieked. "That's _amazing!_ "

"Pamplemousse," CJ said. "I think you need to calm down a little bit. It's just a house."

"Yeah but it's a _huge_ house!"

Toni smiled at her friends as she put down one of the bags on the kitchen counter top. The rest of the Avengers filed into the kitchen and watched as the three new girls examined the place.

"Who are these people?" Pamplemousse asked as she looked at Thor's intricate armor.

"I suppose I could introduce everyone." Toni replied. "Avengers, these are my friends Brooke, CJ, and Pamplemousse."

"Isn't Pamplemousse French for grapefruit?" Natasha asked.

Toni nodded. "It's kind of a long story."

"Tone-ni!" Pamplemousse begged. "Who _are_ they?"

"Oh, right." Toni continued. "This is Clint."

"Clint!" Pamplemousse shouted as she gave the archer a hug.

"This is Steve."

"Steve!" she shrieked as she hugged him as well.

"This is Thor."

"Thor!" she hugged him too, only to receive one back from the god. Pamplemousse grunted. "You're _huge!_ " she said into his chest.

"This is Tony." she continued.

" _Another Tony?!_ " Pamplemousse shouted as the hugged the billionaire.

"This is Natasha."

"Natasha!"

"That's Bruce."

"Bruce! Oh wait," she said quietly. "I've already hugged you."

"Well you could hug me again, if you'd like." he said with a smile.

"Okay!" Pamplemousse shouted in glee as she threw her arms around the good doctor.

"And last, but not least, is Loki."

"Loki!"

"Oh no!" the god shouted. "Do not-" his protests were interrupted by Pamplemousse's cuddles. He only sighed. "That is enough, puny mortal."

"Toni?" she mumbled from his chest. "Why does he talk funny?"

"I am a god." he said, clearly frustrated. "And I would greatly appreciate it if you would let  
me go."

"Pamplemousse." CJ said. "Let go of the god."

"Aww." Hesitantly, she let go of Loki and backed away sheepishly.

"So what do you guys even do around here?" Brooke asked from the kitchen as she looked through the bags.

"Save the world, eat shawarma and pancakes, and watch movies." Tony replied smugly from the mini bar. "No different from you, I imagine."

"Except the whole saving the world thing and shawarma." she replied. "What the bloody fuck is that anyway?"

"Brooke!" CJ scolded. "Remember Pamplemousse."

They all turned to the youngster to see her with her hands over her ears. "Virgin ears, Brooke-Brooke. Virgin ears."

"Sorry, Pamplemousse." she said half-heartedly.

"It's otay." she said with a smile as her hands dropped to her sides.

Thor stepped forward and into the kitchen. "Did you purchase more of those delicious  
PopTarts? The truly are a delicacy!"

"A whole twenty boxes, point break." Tony replied. "Just don't eat them all at once. You'll end up eating me out of house and home."

"He'll eat your house?!" Pamplemousse shouted. She then proceeded to throw herself at Thor. "Don't eat me, please!"

"I do not wish to eat the house, nor you, young Grapefruit. I only wish to devour the PopTarts."

"Great." Tony mumbled. "Now we have two people in this house that take things literally."

Toni nudged her dad. "Don't worry. I can handle them."

After they crew had put away the groceries, people started to gravitate towards the living room. "I'm going to introduce them to Supernatural." Brooke said with a grin that was almost evil.

"Brooke, don't be a life-ruiner."

"Then let me dibs Arrows over there."

"One, his name is Clint and two, you can't dibs him."

"Why not?"

"He's not up for dibs."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Toni." Both girls turned to looked at Tony. "Speaking of Clint, we're-sorry, I'm-throwing him a birthday party. It's partially a celebration and partially a PR event. Pepper is going to take you downtown to pick out some nice outfits, considering the bag you brought with seems a little small to have a full wardrobe." Tony looked over the younger girls and at Pepper. "Pep, I'm buying. Get her whatever she wants. Make sure she looks stunning, as usual."

Toni blushed slightly. "Thanks, Tony."

"Anytime, kid." he said with a smile.

"Come on, Toni. I'm sure the rest of the adults can handle three teens on their own."

"A dress?" Toni asked as they walked into a formal wear shop.

"No." Pepper said. "Dresses. You'll be needing more than one, more than likely."

"They better be cute." Toni said.

Pepper smiled and held up a yellow dress. "I think this one will be perfect for Clint's party. Go try it on!"


	7. Chapter 7

****WARNING! POSSIBLE SUPERNATURAL SPOILERS** **AHEAD!****

Toni and Pepper entered the house with dozens of bags from dozens of different shops. Each bag was filled to the brim with clothes, shoes, and accessories. The two of them stumbled into the living room to find all the other residents watching the screen intently. All of them looked either shocked, heartbroken, or both with the exception of Brooke who looked mildly amused at everyone.

Pamplemousse sniffled from the other side of Steve. "Don't go, Castiel," she whimpered. "I don't want Dean to be all alone."

"I'm pretty sure he'll come back," Bruce said sympathetically and almost hopefully. "They can't just take him out of the show forever. He's too much of a staple."

"Come on, Bruce," Tony replied, obviously holding back tears. "You know these TV shows. They love to ruin people's lives."

Toni looked over at the screen just to see Castiel disappear under the water. An audible sob was heard from somewhere around the couch as the camera zoomed in on Dean's forlorn face.

"But is he not a god?" Thor questioned all of a sudden. "Wouldn't his powers be greater than those of the Leviathan? I doubt a god could be taken over so easily."

"Remember brother," Loki replied. "This is only a work of fiction. Clearly, this would never happen. Besides, Castiel was not a real god to begin with. He was only a mere angel turned god. Nothing more."

" _Mere_ angel?" CJ exclaimed. "Castiel is _nothing_ mere. He may not have been a true god, but he's damn near close enough."

"Watch your damn language," Brooke shouted from the Lazy Boy.

"Yeah!" Pamplemousse shouted in agreement. "Watch your damn language!"

Toni rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Okay guys, calm down." She looked around the room and noticed that there were missing bodies. "Where's Clint and Natasha?"

"Probably sexing it up in the ceiling next to the pancake ingredients," Tony replied bluntly without taking his eyes off the screen. He looked up at her. "No worries. It's normal routine for them."

Toni felt her heart sink, though she didn't know why. "Oh," she said. "Okay. I'm going to just...bring these to my room. I'll be back later." And with that, she picked up her bags and made her way to the bedroom down the hall.

Pepper followed close behind and once the two of them were alone in her bedroom, she closed the door and spoke up. "Toni, are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah." she replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Pepper put the bags down next to the closet and walked closer to Toni. "You seemed kind of upset back there when you dad mentioned where Clint and Tasha _might_ be."

Toni shrugged and started taking the tags off items. "It's no big deal. Why would I care? I mean, what those two do in their spare time is of no consequence to me." Toni sniffled and put the lovely yellow dress Pepper initially picked out on a hanger. "I mean, it's not like I have feelings for Clint or anything." Toni couldn't hold it back any longer and just broke down in front of Pepper. She hadn't intended to fall for the archer.

Pepper took her carefully into her arms and whispered to her. "Shh, it's okay Toni. I know how you feel and it's okay. I'm here for you, okay?"

Toni let out a choked sob and hugged her back, nodding into Pepper's chest.

-

Toni wasn't sure how long she had been in bed, but it was long enough for her legs to feel stiff. After her initial breakdown, Pepper had escorted her to bed like a pro. Eventually, Toni fell asleep from the pure exhaustion of crying so heavily. Pepper must have left after that, and Toni didn't blame her. There's not much you can do for a person once they've fallen asleep.

Toni pulled herself out of bed and finished putting her new clothes away. Afterwards, she trudged into the kitchen to find food. As she entered the kitchen, she looked over at the clock which read 3:15 in the morning. Toni chuckled to herself and opened the fridge.

"Go ahead and have the rest of that cake."

Toni spun around to see her dad sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in hand.

"You're still awake?" she asked in disbelief.

Tony just shrugged. "I told you yesterday-or actually, the day before yesterday-that I came up with those plans at three in the morning. Why wouldn't I be awake at this hour?"

"Don't normal people sleep at this hour?"

"Do I even look normal?"

"Normal enough for a regular sleep pattern."

"I have a regular sleep pattern," he retaliated. "I go to bed, wake up at three in the morning, go back to bed, and wake up at 10 in the morning to start my day."

Toni paused for a moment and finally decided to just grab the cake and sit next to her dad. "Fair enough," she said and she reached for a fork. "But isn't that tiring? I mean, what if you don't have any good ideas one day?"

Tony also reached for a fork and took a piece of cake. "Then I sit awake until an idea hits me in the face or I fall back asleep."

Toni nodded as she too took a piece of cake. "I'm only awake because I majorly screwed my own sleeping pattern."

"That's what Pepper said, but she didn't mention why. Exhausting day?"

"You could say that," Toni mumbled.

Tony moved his chair closer to his daughter and put an arm around her, something he hadn't thought he'd ever do. "You can talk to me about it," he said. "I'm always here to listen." Those were two things he never thought he'd say, either.

Toni shrugged. "I...I guess the pun about Clint and Natasha threw me off a bit."

"How come?"

"I think I might have feelings for him."

Tony's mind went completely blank. "Oh." he said simply. "I...I don't...hm." He thought for a moment. "I don't think I'm the _right_ person to talk to about this. What about Brooke or CJ? I could have JARVIS wake them up in the most hilarious way possible, if you'd like."

Toni laughed. "No thanks," she finally said. "But thanks anyway."

The two of them sat in silence for a while until the cake was reduced to nothing but crumbs. "I'm sorry I made that joke," Tony finally said. "About...Clint."

His daughter only shrugged. "It's not a big deal," she said. "I didn't realize it was only a joke."

Her dad nodded and stood. "Want to come down to the lab and help me work on that suit?"

She smiled and nodded, following him down the stairs to someplace that could help bring up her spirits.


	8. Chapter 8

While Toni and Pepper were out shopping, Clint had been having a serious conversation with Natasha about relationships and how to move on to a better one. When he came back, an episode of Supernatural was concluding.

"When should Toni and Pepper be back?"

At that exact moment, Pepper walked into the living room looking like as if she had just dragged a drunk and self-loathing Tony to bed. But Tony was sitting on the couch trying not to cry at Dean's own self-loathing.

"There you are," Pepper said angrily. "Come with me. We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Clint asked.

"Just come."

Clint followed her to the kitchen and out on the deck. She looked back at him, obviously pissed.

"Pep, what's going on? Where's Toni?"

"Where's Toni?!" she repeated angrily. "Where's Toni? She cried herself to an oblivion because of you!"

Clint couldn't process what Pepper was saying. "What?"

"She's sleeping off her sadness, Clint!" she shouted. "I held her while she cried her eyes out because of you!"

"What did I even do?!"

"She's in love with you and your parading around with Natasha doing _who knows what_ behind her back!"

Clint's jaw dropped and his heart sank. "What?"

"You heard me." she snapped.

"She's...in love...with me?" Clint said quietly and slowly.

"Why do you sound so surprised? She's been ogling you since she met you."

Clint was shocked, completely and utterly. He started to chuckle and soon, started to full out laugh.

"What the fuck is so funny?!" Pepper shouted.

"She loves me!" he responded, clearly elated. "I thought I was the only one with hopes for a relationship!"

"Wait, you have feelings for Antoinette?" Pepper asked. "What about your relationship with Nat?"

"Natasha and I fell apart awhile ago. I talked to her earlier to see if she would be upset if I started seeing Toni and how I would go about doing so."

Pepper was excited, but she couldn't let it show, while Clint was amazed and felt no need to hide it.

"So this is all a huge misunderstanding?"

Clint laughed, sounding incredibly giddy. "I guess so!" he said with a smile on his face. "I think I should tell her how I feel." He paused only for breath. "Actually, I think I'll tell her now!"

"No, Clint, wait!" Pepper exclaimed as she reached for his arm. "She's still incredibly upset. She cried herself to sleep, remember?" Clint looked heartbroken and on the verge of tears, so she changed her tone. "I think it would be best for you to wait until she wakes up on her own. I know you like to hide up in the rafters. Maybe you could wait for her."

"Wait for her? Nat didn't say anything about waiting for her. She said specifically to tell her as soon as possible."

"Clint, I know it's hard, but you're going to have to trust me on this one. It'll be for the best, I promise."

Clint nodded and sighed. "Who knew this would be so difficult."

-

It was almost four in the morning when Clint woke up to sounds in the lab. Upon further investigation, he realized that Toni and Tony were spending quality father-daughter time together.

"Hand me that wrench? The one next to the welder."

"Are you sure? I don't think it's the proper tool for the job."

Tony laughed. "It actually is. See?" Toni leaned in and looked at the suit's interior. "The wrench is the perfect one for the bolt."

"Yeah, but this one will work a lot better. At least, for you it will. It requires a lot less effort on your part."

Clint tried not to laugh at Tony's expression. He looked like he had died and gone to heaven.

Clint maneuvered out of the air vents and found himself at the top of the staircase leading down to the lab. He thought for a moment before actually going downstairs. He tapped on the glass door and was welcomed in by both.

"Hey there, Legolas," Tony said as he let the door swing shut behind him. "Can't sleep?"

"Actually, you woke me up," Clint said in all seriousness. He looked over at Toni, who blushed slightly and looked away. "What are you guys even working on?"

Tony gestured to the unfinished skeleton of a new Iron Man suit. "It's the design that my fantastic daughter came up with. We're working on the internal structure right now."

Clint looked over at Toni who hadn't said a word since he entered the room. "You okay?" he asked.

Toni simply nodded and picked up a pair of welding goggles. Tony looked at Clint, as of pleading for him to either leave or fix her as if she was something that _could_ be fixed.

"Do you want to go for a walk? It's beautiful out this time of night."

"I'd love to, Clint," Tony mocked. "But you're not really my type."

Toni looked at Clint. "Sure. I could use a little fresh air."

"Don't stay out too late," Tony warned. "We have to get your body on a tight sleep schedule."

Toni smiled and followed Clint out the door and outside.

Soon enough, the two of then were sitting out on a patio, looking at the stars.

"Toni," Clint started. "Are you okay?"

Toni gazed over at him. "I thought you and Natasha were a thing," she said. "Why are you so concerned about me all of a sudden?"

Clint moved closer to her. "Nat and I used to have 'a thing,' but both of us have moved on. I think she has a thing for either Pep or Loki, but that's beside the point."

"Then what is the point?"

He sighed. "Why did you come to find your dad?"

Toni laughed a hard, humorless laugh. "Thats the thing that's burning in your soul? That's what you really want to know of all things."

"It'll help me better understand you and what I can do to help."

Toni looked utterly shocked. "You care about me?" When Clint only nodded, Toni felt her heart flutter. "Nobody's ever really cared about me before. It's...nice." Toni paused to contemplate if this was a ploy, but decided to carry on anyway. "I came because I truly hoped to find refuge. My mom was a deadbeat who only cared for herself and only fed her obsession with my dad. I felt alone for the longest time. I knew nothing about my dad until my 13th birthday when my mom was drunk enough to tell me that my dad was the famous Tony Stark. I would've left then to try and find him, but we found Pamplemousse not long after on some street corner, homeless. I couldn't just leave her there to die, so Cj, Brooke, and myself took her in and raised her properly. Eventually, I just got sick of living with my mother, so I packed a bag and left."

"I'm sorry," Clint said solemnly as he reached a hand towards her. He lightly stroked her cheek and put a few stray hairs behind her ear. "I really am."

Toni leaned into his hand, loving every second of his skin against hers. "I know," she said quietly.

Clint leaned closer to her so their noses were almost touching. Toni could feel his breath on her face and absorbed the smell; minty, with traces of cream, indicating mint ice cream, her favorite. She leaned closer, closing her eyes as she did so. Clint moved closer with every intention of placing his lips on hers.

"Clint! Thank god!"

Toni and Clint separated faster then they had come together. Clint cleared his throat and looked at Nat. "What is it, Natasha?"

"I need your opinion on something really important."

"Okay, shoot."

"You need to come with me."

Clint looked at Toni. "Later, then?"

Toni nodded. "Later," she replied. "I should probably get some sleep."

"Okay," he said. "Have a good night's sleep." He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Sweet dreams," he whispered in her ear.

She blushed as he got up to follow Natasha. "You too," she mumbled happily.


	9. Chapter 9

Toni shuffled into the kitchen after a restful night's sleep. As she turned the corner, she saw Pamplemousse standing next to the fridge, cup of coffee in one hand and a box of PopTarts in the other.

"Toni!" she exclaimed. "Good morning!"

Antoinette mumbled a good morning in response and reached towards the fridge. She paused for a moment, realizing that something was wrong.

"Pamplemousse?" She started. "Aren't those…?"

"WHO DARED TO EAT MY DELICIOUS POPTARTS?!"

Pamplemousse seemed to almost shrink. "Uh oh…" she said quietly.

Thor stormed into the kitchen, Mjölnir in hand. "I ask again, mortals! Who dared to eat my delicious PopTarts?!"

Pamplemousse raised her hand slowly and cautiously, dropping the empty box as she did so. "Me?"

Thor looked at the small girl, at the empty box at her feet, and then back again at Pamplemousse. "You ate them, young grapefruit?"

Pamplemousse blushed and looked at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry…?"

Thor laughed a loud, booming laughing. "It is quite alright," He said between breaths. "It is only your first offense and you did not realize that the PopTarts were mine."

At that moment, a grumpy looking Brooke stumbled into the kitchen. "Who the bloody fuck is yelling?!" she demanded. "And where the hell is the coffee?!"

"Good morning, Brooke!" Pamplemousse exclaimed. "Isn't it a beautiful morning?"

Brooke only mumbled and walked zombie-like towards the coffee machine. Not long after, a sleepy Tony walked into the kitchen.

"Why is there so much yelling?" he asked, obviously exasperated.

"Good morning, Other Tony." Pamplemousse said cheerfully. "I'm very lucky to be alive right now."

"So I heard," Tony mumbled. "From across the house."

"Is that my brother I heard yelling about his despicable toaster pastries?"

Everyone in the kitchen stared at Loki, who was wearing Invader Zim footy pajamas. The only one not staring was Brooke, who was leaning over her steaming cup of coffee. "I swear," she said from the table. "If anyone mentions PopTarts again, I will stab them."

"That's rule number twenty -two," Pamplemousse interjected with a smile. "Don't talk to Brooke before she's had her coffee!"

Brooke held up a thumbs up in approval.

"Loki," Tony started. "Where on earth did you get those…pjs?"

Loki looked down at the fuzzy footies, then back up at Tony. "I purchased them when the good doctor went to pick up more pants, considering he runs through them so quickly when he turns into the Hulk."

"Why?" Tony asked in utter confusion.

"They looked quite comfortable," the god responded. "And they are my favorite color. Green."

"But seriously? Footy pjs?"

Loki looked at his feet. "I found them…cheerful."

"Wait a minute!" Pamplemousse shrieked. "Where's CJ?!"

"Probably still sleeping, small one," Loki said as he gravitated towards the cabinets. "You must realize that we are not all early risers."

"Toni, he's talking funny again."

"I do not 'talk funny,' as you put it. I don't recall saying anything amusing."

"Toni, make him stop!"

"I don't understand why-"

"TONI!"

"I do what I want!"

The whole kitchen fell silent. Pamplemousse just stared at Loki. After a while, she finally spoke. "I like your footy jammies," she said almost shyly.

Loki sighed and left the kitchen, nearly running into Clint as he did. "Watch where you're going, archer. You do not want to cross my path today."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Frosty Paws." Loki walked away in a huff, leaving Clint standing alone in the entry. "He's grumpy. Who pissed in his Cheerios?"

Pamplemousse looked at Clint, almost on the verge of tears. "I didn't mean to make him grumpy. He was scaring me with all his big words and funny talking." She looked over at the table. "Did I really piss in his Cheerios?"

"Pamplemousse," Brooke said. "Don't say that word. It's a bad word."

"I'm sorry! I'll never say Cheerios again! I promise!"

Brooke sighed. "It's too early for this," she mumbled. "I need more coffee."

-

"Stark, I don't like when you put on formal events like this," Bruce said as he adjusted his bowtie. "I feel like a fanciful performing monkey in this getup."

"Yes, but a sexy fanciful performing monkey, Bruce." Tony replied. "The chicks will be all over you. Who knows! Maybe someone else will ask you to sign their cleavage."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "You don't look too bad yourself, Tony," he said. "I'd do you if I could."

Tony looked at Bruce in shock and amusement. "Really? Then lets!"

"Wait, what?"

Both scientists turned to see Steve standing in the doorway looking confused and red in the face.

"Bruce was just talking about how he'd like to see me naked, so I told him I'd be happy to oblige."

Steve's face got even more red. "So…you guys were going to…ya know? Fondue?"

Bruce and Tony looked at Steve with blank expressions. "Um, sure," Tony finally said. "We were talking about possibly fondue-ing."

Steve got even more red in the face and walked out looking flustered. "Just try to keep the volume down, Tony. We all know how much you scream when you…fondue."

Bruce blushed and turned back to the mirror. "God, I look like a monkey," he mumbled to himself.

"Monkey?!" Pamplemousse shouted from down the hall. Suddenly, she barged into the room looking excited. "Where's the monkey?!"

"You look very nice, Pamplemousse," Bruce said with a fatherly tone. "That's a very nice dress you have on."

Pamplemousse beamed, "Thank you!"  
"Well than. Shall we?" Bruce asked, holding his arm out for Pamplemousse to take.

"Yup, yeah!" Pamplemousse replied while taking Bruce's arm.

Bruce smiled and led them down the hallway to the ballroom where everyone else was.

Tony stood in the room by himself, wondering why everyone had left him. "Hm." he said. "Guess I'll be escorting myself."

"What about escorts?" Pepper asked as she entered the room.

"They're overpriced for their mediocre skill set," he replied quickly. "I wouldn't recommend them."

Pepper smiled and went about adjusting his tie. "Toni is still getting ready. She's going to be…fashionably late."

Tony smirked, "Like father, like daughter."

"Only she's not busy drinking or banging some reporter."

Tony chuckled. "She may as well be." He paused and thought it over. "On second thought, no. No she shouldn't be. You're right."

"Aren't I always?"

"Don't push it, Potts."

Pepper grinned at Tony as Loki walked into the room looking classy as ever. "The last time I wore this outfit," Loki began. "I was trying to take over the world and stealing peoples eyes. Ah, the good old days."

"Yeah, no. Behave yourself, Reindeer Games."

"I don't find that term endearing."

"Well, you should. Now are we going to stand here all day or are we going to party? Come on, it's Clint's birthday. He's probably doing some kind of fancy archery shots at the bar."

-

"Who are these people?" Pamplemousse asked in astonishment.

"Esteemed guests," Tony replied.

"Steamed? Like vegetables? I like steamed vegetables! Does that mean I can eat the people? I don't want to eat the people! That's mean!" Pamplemousse said on the verge of tears. "It's on Brooke's list of things not to do. Its right before 'don't lick unfamiliar doorknobs.'"

"Pamplemousse," Bruce said calmly. "It's okay. Esteemed is just a fancy word for honored. They're important guests."

She sniffled and looked up at the doctor. "Why do people have to use such big words?"

"So they sound smarter," he replied.

"Well that's dumb! If people want to sound smarter, why don't they say what they mean? It's so much easier!"

The orchestra on the other side of the ballroom started playing a jazzy tune that made it hard for Pamplemousse to sit still in her seat.

"Do you want to go dance?" Bruce asked.

"Can we?" she asked excitedly.

He chuckled and offered her a hand. "Of course."

Pamplemousse literally jumped out of her seat and grabbed Bruce's hand, both smiling immensely.

Tony smiled slightly, bringing the glass of scotch to his lips. As he sipped from his glass, Steve sat next to him. "How's it going, Stark?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. The drinks are good, the doctor is happy, and my daughter is still nowhere in sight."

Steve looked at Tony with slight concern. "Is that…bad?"

"I have no idea, Cap."

Clint walked over to the bar and sat on Tony's other side. "What's up?"

"Have you seen my daughter?" Tony asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. I haven't seen her since lunchtime."

Steve and Tony looked at each other with concern. The orchestra changed the tune again to a slower song, and at that moment, Clint noticed Toni walking down the stairs in a lovely medium length yellow dress. He watched her as she walked down the stairs, heels clicking as she went. She met his gaze for a second and blushed as she continued down.

Clint met up with her at the base of the stairs and couldn't help but to smile. "You look absolutely beautiful," he said quietly.

She blushed again. "Thank you," she replied. "Was my dad wondering where I was?"

He nodded. "No big deal, though." The two of them stood there for a second looking at their feet. "Do…do you want to, ya know? Dance?"

"I'd love to." And with that, Clint lead her on the dance floor.

"Look," Steve said as he pointed to the a couple on the dance floor. "There she is. She's dancing with Clint."

"Oh, that lying bastard," Tony mumbled. He gazed out at the dancers and pointed out another couple. "Steve, look. It's those two guys from the copy room at SHEILD headquarters. They seem to be the only gay couple dancing."

"That's too bad," Steve said quietly. "I kind of feel bad for them." He looked at Tony and smiled. "Maybe we should join them? Just so they don't feel so alienated."

Tony looked at Steve, back at the dance floor, and then back at Steve. "You think we should?"

"Do you think we shouldn't?"

"Oh, no," Tony said quickly. "I'd love to dance, Cap. You just…caught me off guard."

Steve blushed ever so slightly as he took Tony's hand. "Shall we, then?"

Tony smiled warmly. "Of course."

Toni looked over to see Steve and her dad join hands and start dancing together. "They're so cute together," she mumbled to Clint. "Are they, like, together?"

Clint shrugged. "I don't really know. They flirt all the damn time, but I've never seen them make out or anything."

"Well isn't that kind of stuff usually private anyway?"

Clint smiled and held Toni closer to him. After a while, he broke the silence. "So are we, like, together?"

"I don't know," she said. She looked up at Clint and added, "Are we?"

Clint only shrugged and took her for another turn around the floor. "If you want to be," he said. "I mean, we can make it official, if you'd like."

She chuckled and placed her cheek on his shoulder. "What does that even mean?"

"Ya know," he started. "If you want to post it on Facebook and all that crap."

She simply laughed. "I don't have a Facebook and I don't plan on getting one."

"Well we could parade around as boyfriend and girlfriend, if you want."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'd love to."

Tony lead the dance with Steve, turning him round and round. "You're a very good dancer," he said to his blonde partner.

"Funny," Steve said. "I don't even know how to dance."

"Then you must have a fantastic leading partner."

"I do," he said with a smile.

Tony cleared his throat and maneuvered them towards the gay couple from headquarters. "How's it going, fellas?"

"Oh, Steve! Tony! Fantastic to see you! How long have you guys been together?"

"We're not," Steve said shyly. "We just decided to join you guys because you looked a little alone."

"We don't mind. We've gotten used to it. By the way, Stark, who's the girl in the yellow dress dancing with Clint? One of your girlfriends, I assume?"

"Actually, she's my daughter."

"Get out of town! You have a kid? Congrats!"

Tony chuckled and nodded. "Thanks fellas. Enjoy the rest of the party."


	10. Chapter 10

Clint and Toni walked into the kitchen hand in hand after the party. "Come on," he said to her. "I want to show you something." He jumped up on the counter and held out a hand to help her up.

She smiled and took his hand. "What are you showing me?" she asked.

"I am going to show you my super secret hideout," he replied with a smile.

She joined Clint on the counter and he gave her a boost into the hole in the ceiling. The space above the tiles was a lot larger than she had anticipated; she could almost stand up straight in there.

Clint joined her momentarily and smiled, even though she could barely see him. He leaned over and flicked a switch, turning on a long string of Christmas lights. He grabbed her hand and lead her down the corridor until they reached a large opening. Clint flipped another switch and more lights came on, illuminating a living space.

"I put this up here not long after I moved into Avengers tower. I didn't feel comfortable being so exposed in a bedroom, so I moved everything up here."

"So you made a nest in the rafters?" she asked.

"No, it's not a nest," he said quickly. "It's a hideout directly above my bedroom."

Toni looked around, taking in everything there. He had photographs and cutouts along the 'walls' and come clothes strewn about the 'floor.' In the middle of it all was a make-shift mattress that looked well-worn.

"Why do you have this old thing?" she asked as she sat on his bed of sorts.. "I'm sure my dad would buy a new one for your nest if you asked."

Clint sighed. "It's not a nest," he said while trying not to smile. "It's a hideout, a living area, anything and everything _except_ a nest."

Toni giggled. "Right."

He sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You really do look beautiful in that dress," he said sweetly.

"And you look pretty spiffy yourself in that tux," she replied. She took one final look around the room and smiled. "I really like your nest, too. It's very nice."

Clint sighed and went to retaliate, but stopped himself. Instead, he smiled. "Thanks," he said sincerely.

He leaned closer so their noses were almost touching. Toni knew, finally, what this meant. She leaned in as well, placing her lips to his gently. His hands moved to her face, placing one on either side, as he leaned in further and making the kiss deeper. She moved her hands to his hair, entangling her fingers in his dark blonde hair. Clint moaned in pleasure and pushed closer. A simple kiss had escalated to a make-out session.

Toni adjusted herself so she was on his lap, still kissing him. Clint slowly moved one hand down her neck until he reached her shoulder where he stayed for a moment. They continued to kiss passionately and Clint took this as a sign to continue. His hand tugged gently at the strapless yellow dress just above her breast and he moved his hand to some of her now exposed skin.

"Mmm, Clint?" she mumbled. When he didn't stop, she raised her voice a little bit. "Clint, please stop."

Clint squeezed her breast and she pushed him away quickly.

"I said, _stop!_ " she shouted at him. Her heart was racing and his breathing was ragged. Tears started to well up in her eyes and she began crying.

"Oh, Toni, I'm sorry," he said quietly. He stood and walked closer. "I should've stopped, I'm sorry." Clint reached out to her to put an arm on her shoulder. "I should've listened to you."

Toni flinched away from his touch and looked at him in shock. Without saying another word, she walked down the corridor and jumped down onto the kitchen counter. As she was leaving the kitchen, her father entered, looking pleased.

"Hey, Toni," he said happily. "Do you want to go down to the lab and-"

"Sorry. Got to go to bed. G'nite," she mumbled as she pushed past the billionaire.

He watched her walk hastily to her bedroom with concern. She slammed the door behind her just as Clint hopped down from the opening.

"Tony, have you seen Toni?" he asked.

Tony spun around and looked at Clint who seemed to be in a major hurry. "Why? What did you do to her?"

Clint held up his hands in self-defense. "Look, Tony, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. I didn't mean to hurt her."

"You hurt my daughter?!" he shouted as he grabbed the archer and pinned him up against the wall. "What the hell did you do, you asshole?!"

"What's going on here?" CJ asked, suddenly concerned.

"Antoinette is upset and Tony is overreacting."

Tony let go of Clint only to punch him in the face. "I'm not overreacting, you son of a bitch! You hurt my only daughter!"

"Both of you need to calm your tits," CJ said almost angrily. "Clint, what happened between you and Antoinette?"

Clint sighed and looked cautiously at Tony. "I don't want to talk about it with Tony here."

"You raped her?!" Tony shouted in rage. "I'll kill you!"

Tony lunged for Clint, only to have Thor grab him and hold him back. "Man of Iron," Thor shouted. "This will not solve anything! You need to calm down."

"I didn't rape her!" Clint shouted. "Get your damn facts straight!"

"Archer," Loki started. "There is no need to yell. You too need to calm down."

"I ought to kill _you!_ " Clint shouted. "Where the hell have you been all her life?!"

Clint lunged for Tony, only to have Loki hold him back.

"Both of you need to stop!" CJ shouted. "This won't solve anything, like Thor said. Just tell me exactly what happened."

Clint sighed and hung his head. "We were making out and she asked me to stop, but I didn't. She just got really touchy and upset and I didn't know why. She stormed out of my room without an explanation."

Tony looked at Clint like a murderous dog. "So it _is_ your fault," he said accusingly.

"I didn't mean to hurt her, Tony!" he shouted. "There wasn't an issue for a while. She kept kissing me and I thought she was okay with it."

Thor, still holding onto Tony, spoke up. "Perhaps you did something new that she did not like."

"My brother is right," Loki added. "Did you do anything...unruly?"

Clint's breath hitched and he looked at Tony sheepishly, then dropped his gaze. "I, um, kind of...ya know...felt her up."

"What is this 'fe-'"

" _You felt up my daughter?!_ " Tony shouted.

The two men tried lunging for each other once again, when Pamplemousse walked into the kitchen looking slightly frightened.

"Guys?" she said quietly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the girl standing in the doorway. "Why is Toni crying?"


	11. Chapter 11

Loki found himself standing at Toni's bedroom door, listening to her soft sobs coming from the other side. Clint quietly padded over behind him and reached out for his shoulder.

"Loki? Is she okay? Can I help somehow?"

He shoved Clint's hand away. "You've done enough," he muttered with an irrittated tone. "I don't believe she needs anymore of your help."

Clint backed away with tears starting to form. "I understand," he mumbled. He turned around and stalked back to the kitchen.

Loki stepped forward and sighed before tapping on her door. "Antoinette?" he asked quietly. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she said, voice cracking.

He opened the door slowly and peeked inside before actually stepping into the dimly lit room. As he walked farther into her room, he noticed how much the surroundings had changed.

For one, all the knick-knacks she had neatly set up on her dresser had been pushed to the ground in a bout of, most likely, frustration or desperation. Secondly, the only light in the room came from the single lamp light on her bedside table and the glow of the full moon through the partially drawn curtains.

Finally, and seemingly most importantly, her lovely yellow dress hung limply and desperately off her desk.

"Loki?" she asked after a second or two of sniffling. "What are you doing here?"

The god looked over at the bed to see Toni peeking at him from over a large, fluffy pillow. "Despite your father's protests, I wanted to speak to you and see how you were fairing," he replied quietly as he approached her slowly.

Toni sniffled once more and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "Really? You came to check up on me?" she asked sincerely.

"Well," he started. "Yes. Yes I did."

She gave him a small smile as he sat down on her bed. "That's really nice of you. But it doesn't seem like your...style."

Loki chuckled. "No, definitely not. I agree. I just," he paused and looked away for a second. "I thought you would enjoy the company of someone who has no real ties to you."

Toni hugged the pillow closer, but moved a little closer to him. She looked up at him while most of her face was pressed to the fabric, eyes wide.

"You remind me of a kitten when you look at me like that," he said with a genuine smile.

She giggled into the pillow and closed her eyes as she smiled.

"I can actually turn into a kitten, if you'd like," he added.

"Get out!" she exclaimed. "You can actually do that?"

"Of course!" he replied eagerly. "I can transform into anything I want. That's the beauty of magic."

"Magic?" she asked.

Loki grinned at his new found friend as he transformed himself into an all black cat with dazzling green eyes.

Toni gasped in joy and shock at the sudden change. "You...you're...you're adorable!" she finally said.

The cat looked up at her, clearly amused. Then, slowly and with a sparkle of white light, the cat transformed back into the god of mischief himself.

"Now do you believe me?" he asked with a grin.

Toni giggled and nodded. "I don't think I really doubted you in the first place," she admitted. "It just seemed a bit far fetched."

Loki smiled at her and placed his hand on hers. "But far fetched is perhaps the best way to be."

The two of them sat in silence for a little while, just enjoying each other's presence. "Loki?" Toni started after a moment. "What do you think I should do about my...situation with Clint?"

"The archer? I don't see why you're asking," he said sarcasitcally. "You two are a _perfect_ match."

"Maybe we are," she replied bluntly. "But with the way things have been going, I don't think it's healthy for either of us."

"What's been going on?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"I...I don't really want to get into specifics. It's things that I haven't been able to tell anyone."

"Including all your friends outside your bedroom?"

Toni nodded and sniffled as tears welled up in her eyes. "Including them. I don't know, Loki. What should I even do?"

"Well," he began. "I'm not an expert in these things, but I've been around long enough to understand how it all works. You see, people don't like it when they have no one to trust. I know you and the archer both need someone to look out for them." Loki paused and sighed.

"But you don't need to be the one to do the looking after. It obvious that whatever is bothering you is enough to steer you away from the people you love. Now, I'm not telling you to leave him. That's not what I'm saying at all, actually."

"Then what are you saying?" she asked.

Loki looked at her and could feel something stirring deep inside him. "I'm telling you to give him another chance," he said finally. "He is a well enough man and I believe that the two of you are well suited. But you can only give him this second chance if you feel it would benefit you both."

Toni smiled at Loki. "Not an expert, you say?"

Loki chuckled. "No, not at all."

She smiled at him and felt butterflies in her stomach. She crawled over the pillow and onto his lap where she hugged him close and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. "Thank you," she mumbled.

He smiled lightly and warmly and wrapped his arms around her. "Anytime, Antoinette."

****

"How's she doing?" Tony asked once Loki entered the kitchen after spending nearly half an hour in his daughter's bedroom. "Is she okay? Am I going to have to kill somebody?"

"She'll be fine, Tony," he said quietly. "She fell asleep. And I don't believe the killing is necessary."

"You sure about that?" he asked. "Because I think it would help _me_ feel better, for sure."

"Man of Iron," Thor said from the dining room table. "I don't think killing the archer would help anyone in this situation."

"Thor's right," CJ replied. "He's on your team for a reason. If anything, you need a sniper for when you go to battle."

"Since when do you give team advice?" Tony asked accusingly.

"Since now, I guess."

Tony sighed and sat down at the table. "What should I do? CJ is right. I can't just kick him off the team and forbid them from seeing each other again."

Loki sat down next to his brother. "Perhaps all of this would be better thought through in the morning once we've all gotten some sleep."

"My brother is right," Thor added. "We will have our wits about us in the morning."

Tony nodded, suddenly feeling exhausted. "Tomorrow, then." And with that, he stood and shuffled off to his bedroom. He walked in and closed the door behind him, only to see Steve standing next to his bed.

"Tony," he said quietly.

He nodded once. "Hey, Cap."

"Is everything okay? I heard the shouting."

"Not yet, but in the morning, we're going to figure something out." Tony walked over to his bed and sat down heavily.

Steve sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "I'll be here to help, Tony. I promise. I mean, I don't know what I can do, but I can try in anyway I can."

Tony smiled lightly and nuzzled into Steve. "Just be here, okay?"

Steve nodded. "Of course," he said as he kissed the top of Tony's head. "I'll always be here."


	12. Chapter 12

Bruce woke up to the sunlight shining in his face. He looked around his bedroom, as per usual, and went to sit up, only to find that there was something curled against him.

He looked over to see Pamplemousse snuggled against him. Her face was slightly red from crying last night when she came into his room.

 _"Bruce?" she said quietly as she walked into the bedroom._

 _He sat up groggily and looked at the silouetted figure standing in the doorway. "Pamplemousse? What's wrong?"_

 _"I'm scared. Can I sleep in here tonight?"_

 _"Uh, yeah. Of course you can."_

 _Pamplemousse shuffled over to the bed and crawled under the covers, sniffling as she did so._

 _"Some people are so mean," she said as she cuddled close to the scientist._

Bruce wriggled his way from Pamplemousse and saw that his t-shirt sleeve was wet from her tears.

"Oh, Pamplemousse," he said quietly. "I'm sorry you were so scared."

****

Steve woke up to find Tony nestled in his arms. However, the super solider was not surprised. People tend to cuddle when they are distressed, and Tony was no exception. What surprised him, though, was how comfortable the billionaire seemed to be in his presence. That didn't seem to be a sign of distressed individual.

****

Toni was not looking forward to this day. It's not like she could stay in bed forever.

A soft knock and Brooke's calm voice interrupted her thoughts. "Toni? Are you awake?"

"Yeah," she responded and Brooke opened the door. "Just checking out some updates on the Supernatural website. There are rumors that Cas is coming back.

Brooke sat next to her and looked at the laptop screen. Three large cracks and coutnless smaller ones graced the screen, but it was obvious that the browser was opened to the site.

"How come no one wants to come eat breakfast this morning?"

Toni looked at Brooke with true shock. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Nat, Pepper, and myself are the only ones in the kitchen," she replied. "CJ is nowhere to be found. Neither is Pamplemouse or anyone else in this house. Did everyone get _that_ hung over?"

Toni shrugged. "Well, Clint and I did have an altercation last night."

"You mean you guys had a fight?" she asked quickly.

She nodded and closed her laptop. "Yeah, and Loki got involved. He came in here to see how I was doing."

"Wait, Loki?" she asked. "As in, the God of Mischeif?"

"I know, right? Weird," she said as she shook her head in disbelief. "I thought it was so out of character for him, but I guess everyone has a soft-spot, right?"

"Was he trying to catch you off the rebound?"

"I don't think so. He suggested that I give Clint another chance."

"Huh," Brooke said while biting her cheek in consideration. "That's...weird. Definitely not like him. But maybe he's right about Clint."

Toni shrugged. "Maybe," she said definitively. "We'll see."

****

Bruce walked into the kitchen to see Pepper and Tasha talking at the table.

"Where is everyone?" he asked tiredly.

Just as Pepper opened her mouth to say they didn't know, Steve and Tony walked in looking more tired than Bruce. As Tony went to make a snide comment, Clint hopped down from the open space in the ceiling. From behind Steve, Loki pushed his way towards the fridge and Thor came from the other entryway and grabbed a large box of PopTarts.

Bruce cleared his throat and looked at the sudden blossom in their numbers. "Well," he started. "I see we've all...assembled"

Clint and Tony glared at each other while Loki, Steve, and Thor all gave each other nervous glances.

"Did I miss something?" Bruce asked.

Just then, Brooke and Toni entered the kitchen and Toni looked like she was going to fall over dead.

"I thought you said nobody came for breakfast," she said quietly.

"It was just the three of us a couple of minutes ago, I swear," Brooke replied just as quietly.

"Seriously, guys," Bruce interjected, clearly annoyed. "What's going on here? Everyone seems so on edge."

"Toni and I had a...misunderstanding last night," Clint said boldly.

"I do not believe you could call _that_ a misunderstanding, archer," Loki said cooly. "I do believe you were in your right mind when you violated Antoinette."

"Wait, what?"

"I did _not_ violate her! She asked for it!"

"I've never met a girl who runs away from something she enjoys."

"Then how do you explain every girl that you've ever slept with, Tony?"

"Agent Barton, you should not insult the Man of Iron that way."

"Stay out of this, Thor!"

"Seriously, guys, what?"

"You know what, fuck you, Tony! You're trying to be this great dad, but you'll never be able to be one!"

"Is that a challenge, Barton?!"

"What do you think?!"

"Clint, stop! Listen to me, please!"

"Stay out of this, Nat!"

"Is that a damn challenge?!"

"What the hell do you think?!"

"EVERYONE STOP!"

Everyone in the kitchen turned to see Toni standing there, red in the face and silently crying. Brooke was standing next to her looking at her best friend with worry.

"This is fucking ridiculous," she said with more reserve than she seemingly had. "You guys are suppsed to be a team, friends even. Yet you keep fighting!" She sighed and looked over at Clint. "And you. You're denying anything every happened it's driving me _crazy_."

Clint looked over at Loki with accusing eyes. "What did you tell her last night?"

Loki looked at Clint, genuinely confused. "I beg your pardon?"

"You told her not to trust me, didn't you?" he marched up to Loki and grabbed him by the collar. "You told her that I was good for nothing, didn't you?!"

"No," Toni said with conviction and anger. "No, he didn't. He actually told me to take you back, but only if I wanted. He told me that you were a _good man._ "

Clint let go of Loki and stared at Antoinette in shock. "What?"

"You heard me," she spat at him. "And I was going to give you a second chance until I saw _that_ little act."

"What...what do you mean?"

"It's over, Clint. It's over before it even began."


	13. Chapter 13

The tension after the breakup only escalated after the so called "resolution" between all those involved. The uncomfortable atmosphere was even more so to those not involved. Poor Bruce found himself not knowing what to do without stepping on _someone's_ toes.

After some settling, he stepped in front of Clint to get to the fridge in time for a cold glass of orange juice.

"What the hell are you doing?" Clint asked with an accusing tone.

"Just getting a glass of orange juice."

"Oh, no. It's _my_ damn turn!" he barked. "Get to the back of the goddamn line!"

Bruce, looking like a kicked puppy, walked to the back of the line.

After the awkwardly silent breakfast was over, it was time for the Avengers to start their daily training. Bruce's job was to observe and point out the flaws in everyone's technique, given the fact that his power was the other guy.

"Nice form, Loki," he said from outside the ring. "But I would suggest-"

"Who cares?!" Clint shouted from the shooting range as he volleyed arrows one after another. "He's the enemy anyway! Why the hell would you enable him?!"

"He's not the enemy anymore, Clint," Steve said from across the arena. "You know he's changed."

"Banishment means nothing to me," he said sourly as he launched an arrow in Bruce's direction, narrowly missing his ear.

Both Loki and Bruce ducked at the closeness of the arrow.

Dinner that night was just as horrid as breakfast. Blood was nearly shed over the cream cheese wontons, fingers were broken over the spring rolls, and Thor almost broke Clint's arm over the chow mein.

With bruises inflicted and spirits broken, everyone stalked off to their bedrooms or respective changing rooms.

"I don't see why people can't forgive each other," Pamplemousse said to Toni as they walked into the bathroom to brush their teeth. "Do they really hate each other that much?"

"I don't know. I think they're just clashing."

The two of them walked out of the bathroom and down the hall until they reached the point where they would part ways.

"Where's Cj been all day?" Pamplemousse asked. "Has she been in bed or something?"

Toni stopped in her tracks and looked at the young girl. "I don't know. Maybe she's not feeling well."

"Oh. I hope she feels better," and with that, Pamplemousse walked into Bruce's room and closed the door behind her.

***

At around two in the morning, Toni awoke to a strange, whirring sound outside her door.

She sat up and looked at the dim, blue light showing in the cracks around her door. The whirring got louder and the light got brighter.

"Dad?" she mumbled.

Then, the door exploded and revealed a floating disc the size of a basketball giving off a blinding light. Toni screamed and held up her hand to block out the extreme rays as the whirring made it nearly impossible to hear.

All the Avengers ran towards the sound of the explosion, pjs and all. Loki, being a magic user, managed to get his armor on over his footy pajamas and was in the head of the pack directly behind Tony who programmed JARVIS to automatically prep his suit for this kind of emergency.

When they finally reached Toni's room and the center of the commotion, the shock they felt was palpable.

"Toni?" her father shouted through the broken door frame as the disc moved closer to her.

"Help me!" she shouted back.

Tony looked back at Steve, begging him to be the leader he usually was. Steve shared Tony's gaze for a moment, taking in the shock, desperation, and imminent rage that the new father held inside him.

"Loki," Steve said as he finally tore his eyes away from Tony. "Can you get in there and find a way to get Toni out?"

"No, I'll do it!" Clint shouted. "Let me save her!"

"Not now, Hawkeye!" he replied quickly. "Loki is the only one with proper armor."

Just then, another wave of loud whirring came as the wall directly to their left exploded. Another blue glowing disc appeared, whirring loudly and interrupting the sight of all the heroes.

Pamplemousse's scream echoed through the house as another explosion rang out.

Steve turned to Bruce who was trembling as his eyes went from a chocolate brown to a raging green.

"Thor, cover Bruce. Go find Pamplemousse and get her close to everyone else."

"I will protect my brother and the young grapefruit with all I have!" Thor bellowed as he summoned his hammer and chases after Bruce.

"Brooke, stay next to one of us. We'll protect you."

Brooke nodded and took a step behind the star spangled man. "Don't have to tell me twice, Cap."

Steve looked at Loki and Clint. "You two need to work together to get Toni out of that room. It's a death trap in there."

"Oh no! I'm not working with Sir Tricks-A-Lot!"

"I don't care, Clint!" Steve shouted as more whirring approached. "Either work with him, or Antoinette and Pamplemousse won't make it to tomorrow!"

Another explosion resounded from the kitchen area and a blue light flooded into the hall.

Clint looked at Loki and then back at Steve. "There has to be another way, Cap."

"Archer, we must save her," Loki said from the doorway. "Not for your sake, my sake, or even the sake of her father, but for her own!"

The disk from the kitchen started to close the distance between itself and the group of heroes.

"Clint, go!" Steve shouted.

Clint screamed loudly and barbarically as he threw himself into the room behind Loki, who was making good use of his magic.

"Tony," Steve started. "You, Nat, and I need to keep these other things occupied for the time being. Keep an eye on Brooke and watch for the others."

"Sure thing, captain," Natasha replied as she jumped up on one of the disks nearest her.

"Wait!" Brooke's shouted. "Wheres Cj?!"

Steve looked around, and just as he opened his mouth to respond, Cj walked down the hallway with three more disks hovering behind her. She said nothing to them, but instead watched as the disks started to whir louder and louder.

Back in Toni's room, Loki and Clint were busy fighting and protecting.

"Archer, shoot!" Loki shouted as Clint took careful aim. "This forcefield can't last forever!"

Clint shot and the disk shattered into three equally sized pieces. The blue light switched off and the whirring faded out to nothingness as the three of them watched in horror, Toni's hands still attempting to shield herself from the imposing light and sound.

"Well that was easy," Clint said in a cocky manner.

"Too easy, my friend," Loki said somberly.

As of on cue, the three pieces started to vibrate and whir, taking shape as disks and illuminating with a bright blue light.

Clint watched as the disks rose off the ground in shook and awe. "What the hell?"

***

"Young grapefruit! Come to me!" Thor bellowed over the sound of the large disk as he reached his hand out to the shaking and whimpering little girl.

She tried to reach under the disk, only to have it send an electrical current through her hand. She recoiled and screamed in pain.

The Hulk had never been one for sentiment, but this sound made him sad, not to mention angrier than usual. He roared and tried to smash the disk in front of him, only to receive a shock himself. He roared in pain and then again in rage.

Thor wound up and slammed his hammer down on top of the disk which promptly smashed into three equally sized pieces.

Pamplemousse stared at the pieces in horror, then up at Thor with gratitude.

"Thank you, Thor," she said quietly.

"You're very welcome, young one," he replied calmly.

Pamplemousse stood carefully and walked to the Hulk. "Thank you, Bruce," she said. Then, she closed the distance between them and hugged his large green leg. Just as the other guy started to turn back into Bruce, the whirring started to return and Steve was bursting in the door shouting something about not destroying the disks.


	14. Chapter 14

The fight started with only seven basketball sized disks. Now as Pamplemousse clung to Bruce after he transformed back into himself and Toni held on to her dad for dear life, fifteen disks hovered around them with lights and whirring making it nearly impossible to concentrate on anything.

Cj strolled up to them, smirking evilly as the last three basketball sized disks hovered behind her.

"Silence," she practically hissed. All fifteen disks fell silent so only their lights confirmed their presence.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" she mused in front of the heroes. "Their only job is to be indestructible. I feel as though they're doing a great job so far."

"Cj?" Toni asked in a flabbergasted manner. "What's going on? I don't understand."

"Of course you don't," she replied over confidently. "You're not supposed to, you dumb broad."

"Don't you _dare_ call her a dumb broad, you bitch!" Tony yelled as he took a step forward. One of the newly formed softball sized disks shocked him and caused his suit to spark.

"Sir," JARVIS chimed. "I wouldn't suggest touching the disks. They're charged with high voltage electricity that could severely damage the suit."

"Thanks for the warning," he mumbled as he stepped back in line.

"You should be proud, Stark," Cj said with great conviction. "That was a feature added especially for you!"

"Cj!" Pamplemousse shouted in tears. "Why would you want to hurt us?"

"Why wouldn't I? All of you are weak, pathetic, and stupid!"

"Well fuck you too!" Clint shouted as he loosed an arrow in her direction.

She dodged smoothly and calmly, barely missing the arrow. The disk directly behind her, unfortunately, did not. The arrow went completely through the center of the blue light, which fizzled and burned out.

All the Avengers cowered, waiting for three more to take its place. When nothing happened, everyone, including Cj, stared at the broken disk in shock.

"Shoot them in their light source! Do it now!" Steve shouted as he threw his shield at one of the basketball sized disks.

The shield bounced off the metal and Cj ducked to avoid being hit. "No!" she screamed to no one in particular. "Attack!" she shouted at the disks.

The blue light brightened and the whirring got louder as all fourteen of the disks started to close the distance.

"Today is the day the Avengers die!"

Loki stepped forward and looked at Cj. "Not today." Then, he pulled back and let loose a powerful beam of magic that ripped through four or five of the disks, leaving them piles of broken and useless metal.

The others followed suite and aimed directly for the center of light, killing them each time.

"No!" Cj shouted. "No!"

After all the disks had been broken, Clint walked up to Cj and knocked her out with a swing of his bow to her face.

***

"I finished the diagnostics and it doesn't look good."

Tony crossed the lab and looked over Bruce's shoulder. "How bad?"

"Bad," Bruce said somberly. "As in, Green Goblin tech."

"Goblin?" Clint asked in disbelief. "I thought he was dead."

"He is," Natasha interjected. "He was crushed under a truck which promptly exploded."

"Then how is his tech still around? I mean, this is obviously the handiwork of Norman Osborn himself."

Cj moaned as she started to come to. Everyone immediately surrounded her with questions at the ready.

She looked up at then and moaned once more. "Whats going on, guys?" she asked shakily.

"Why did you attack us?" Clint asked sternly. "Who sent you?"

"You were attacked? I don't remember anything."

"Bull," Clint spat.

"Seriously," Cj said. "I was out buying a coffee and bam, I'm here."

"You're kidding, right?" Tony said with amazement.

"Why would I joke about something like that?" Cj asked in all seriousness. "If you guys got attacked, then it's definitely no laughing matter."

Everyone in the lab shared a look of bewilderment. "What do you think happened?" Brooke asked from behind Thor, who had his hammer in hand.

"I don't know," Cj said earnestly. "It felt kind of like...someone was playing around with my mind."

Clint and Natasha paled simultaneously and shared a nervous glance. "Like..." Nat gulped and let out a shaky breath. "Possession?"

"I...I think so," Cj said shakily. "I think I was possessed."


	15. Chapter 15

"Bruce," Tony said as he looked down CJ's throat. "Can you pass me a bottle of chlorine concentrate?"

"Huh?!" CJ asked in a muffled voice as her eyes widened in fear.

"Why?" asked the good doctor as he reached for the glass bottles. "Did you want to see if her cells physically and chemically changed?"

"No, I just realized I forgot to have JARVIS clean the hot tub."

Clint sighed from across the room and CJ found it much easier to relax. All the Avengers had been running all kinds of tests on her since she came to, and after four plus hours, they seemed to have a never ending list things to check.

"Do you feel any tingling sensations in your fingers or toes?" Tony asked after he pulled his fingers out of her mouth.

"What's that got to do with anything?" she asked.

"Some scientific possession methods include briefly changing your genetic makeup, so things will feel different to you. The way your nerves perceive feeling would be one of the last things to change back."

CJ sat there and thought for a little while. "Um, no I don't think so."

"Damn," Tony muttered. "Bruce, take off numbers 12 through 247 on the list of scientific possibilities."

"What about 113?"

Tony shook his head. "No, we would've found residue behind her ear or tingling in her toes. Take it off."

"And 217?"

"No, there isn't any bruising or swelling of the feet."

"Hey dad?" Toni interjected from one of the many computers scattered around the shop. "Did you double check number three hundred?"

"We discounted that a long time ago," Tony replied. "And I told you not to call me that."

"But we haven't taken a CT scan yet. Maybe that's what did this to her."

"She would've had a major personality change," Clint read from the more detailed list. "She was still a huge bitch."

"Hey!" CJ shouted. "I'm not that bitchy!" she turned to Tony and attempted to look at his computer screen. "Now, how many different possibilities are there?"

"Well, we've managed to narrow it down to a couple thousand in a matter of four and a half hours."

"Holy shit!"

"That's what I said," Brooke added as she carried a pot of coffee down the stairs. "It's freakin' ridiculous."

"Not to mention, Loki has his own tests too," Steve added from the table where he had been filling out some paperwork to get the tower properly repaired and the insurance to fully comply.

"Wait, he gets his own set of tests?" Clint exclaimed from his place.

"Yes," Tony replied. "He's the only magic user here. If she was magically possessed, he'd be the only one to find it."

"Yeah, but if he did it, then he'll pretend like he never found anything!"

"I can assure you, archer, that I had nothing to do with her possession," Loki said from his spot next to Thor. "If it was magic, it was not mine."

"Right, and if you're the only one who can find any trace of magic, then you'd be able to hide your findings from us. You could outright lie to us!"

"Clint, cool your tits," Brooke said as she poured herself a cup of go-juice. "I doubt he'd possess somebody to kill him and everyone else."

"Why are we talking about tits?" Pamplemousse asked as she stumbled down into the lab, rubbing her eyes.

"Pamplemousse," CJ said. "We don't say that word."

"Which one?" she asked. "I don't think I said anything wrong."

"She means tits," Brooke said bluntly. "It's another word for boobs."

Pamplemousse covered her ears. "I'm not supposed to hear that word."

"Then don't say either of those words ever again," CJ said soothingly.

The young girl nodded and sat down next to Thor. "Hi, Thor!" she said cheerily.

The god of thunder broke into a smile as he looked down at her. "Hello, Young Grapefruit. How do you feel after your bought of rest?"

"Great! I didn't have any nightmares!"

"How wonderful!"

Tony shook his head. "I just knew you two would be best friends eventually."

"Bruce," Pamplemousse chimed. "Is other Tony being 'sarcasmic' again?"

He chuckled to himself as he shook his head. "No, not really."

"But Toni and Brooke are my best friends!"

"I'm sure Thor doesn't mind if you have other friends, too," Bruce said soothingly. "In fact, I'm sure he'd like it if you did."

"Pamplemousse, aren't I one of your best friends, too?" CJ asked quietly.

Pamplemousse looked down at the ground sheepishly. "Well, you did try to kill me..."

"Now Pamplemousse, we don't know that yet," Bruce said calmly. "We think someone was making her do it."

"But CJ's strong," she replied. "I thought CJ always said she can think for herself."

"Sometimes that kind of thing doesn't work," Toni said as she sat down next to her friend. "Sometimes people can steal your mind and use it for themselves."

"Oh," she said quietly.

Thor clapped his hand on her back and smiled again. "Come, young one!" he boomed. "Let us go play the game where you conceal yourself, and I attempt to discover you!"

Pamplemousse's eyes lit up. "You mean hide and seek?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, that one!"

"Yay!" she shouted as she ran up the stairs and out of the lab. Thor went to follow, only to have Bruce grab him first.

"Thor, please don't lose her," he said.

"I will not, my friend," Thor said reassuringly. "My brother and I would play this game for hours, and Asgard has many hiding places."

Bruce nodded, feeling more at ease as he let go of the god. As he turned to look back at his findings, he noticed that everyone in the room had been staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"You're such a mother hen," Tony replied snidely.

"I am not! I'm simply making sure we don't lose her for the sake of everyone here."

Steve smiled to himself as he continued filling out insurance forms. "You must admit, Dr. Banner, you do seem to have a soft spot for her."

Bruce shook his head, but couldn't help but think of how right Steve was. He had taken Pamplemousse under his wing and protected her like she was…well, his own.

"Do you remember anything about your surroundings?"

CJ stared at Loki. "No," she replied. "I don't remember anything."

"Think hard," he said quietly. "No noises at all? No thoughts that ran through your head?"

CJ shook her head and Loki sighed. "It's useless," he mumbled. "We've been at it for over twelve hours and not a single thing has led us to an answer."

Thor shuffled down the stairs and slumped into a chair.

"What's wrong, Muscles?" Brooke asked as she sipped from yet another cup of coffee.

"I cannot find the grapefruit," he sullenly admitted. "She is a much better hider than Loki ever was."

Loki glared at Thor. "Certainly not!" he exclaimed lightly. "I have magic, and she is but a mortal."

"But you always hid in the some of the same places, brother," Thor retorted. "The young one is clever."

"And I am not?"

"Come on, kids," Tony said hastily. "We don't want any blood shed now."

"I never said you were not clever," the blonde brother said calmly. "I only mean that my young friend is a better hider than you."

Loki sighed and spun around to face CJ again. "Do you have any tingling sensations in your fingers or toes?"

"Seriously?!" CJ shouted. "I've been sitting in this same spot for almost thirteen hours and you're asking me that questionagain?!"

"Of course not!" Loki exclaimed. "You've left that spot plenty of times while Tony and the doctor have done their examinations."

CJ moaned and slumped back in her chair. "This is so stupid!"

Brooke and Clint rolled their eyes in unison.

"Don't be such a pussy," Brooke moaned back. "We're all suffering here!"

Just then, Natasha waltzed in with a cup of hot chocolate from the café down the street in her hands. "Hey guys!" she said with a bubbly voice. "Find anything yet?"

"No!" shouted Tony, Loki, and Toni.

Toni sighed and stood up from her spot at the computer. "Maybe we should all just take a break," she said as she stretched. "We probably won't find anything, so why bother going over the lists a thousand and one times."

"You're just giving up?" Clint asked.

"No," Toni replied. "I just think we should take a day or two to collect ourselves and the data settle. There are some tests that will take about forty-eight hours to finalize, so we should just relax a little. Besides, I don't think we'll have to worry about another attack so soon."

As Toni's words hung in the air, small footsteps paraded down the stairs. Pamplemousse jumped out from around the corner, smiling. "You didn't find me!" she shouted. "I win!"


	16. Chapter 16

That night, Pamplemousse was brave enough to sleep in her own bed. The next morning, however, Thor's face a few inches from hers startled her.

As she yelped, a smile spread across the god's face. "Good morning, my friend!" he said in a hushed, yet booming voice. "The day is young, and I wish for another game of what you call 'hide and finding.'"

"No, it's hide and seek," she mumbled as she tried to roll over on her side. "What time is it?"

"It is four in the morning, grapefruit," he said, still smiling.

"That's not morning!" she whined.

"It is for Loki and myself! My brother wishes to join us in our game. He believes that a competition needs to be set to see who the better hider is indeed!"

Pamplemousse grumbled. "I don't like him this early. He's mean."

"Please, my friend. I ask that you join us this one time, than you may go back to rest."

The young girl groaned as she sat up in bed, looking disheveled. "Can I has a PopTart in return?"

Thor looked at Pamplemousse and for a second, his smile faltered as he realized what she was doing. "You wish to eat some of my delicious PopTarts?" She nodded once, and Thor looked almost heartbroken. "Yes," he finally said. "You may have some of my PopTarts."

"Yay!" she exclaimed as she crawled out from her warm, comfortable bed.

Ten minutes later, after Pamplemousse finished her toaster pastries, Thor was searching the mansion for his new friend and his brother.

"Loki?" he called out. "Young Grapefruit?"

Loki and Pamplemousse ran through the darkened hallways as quietly as possible.

"How is it that you believe you can beat me at my own game? You're small and insignificant."

"I can hide places where you can't fit," she retorted. "That's why I'm the best!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Yes, you can," he muttered with a smirk. "But I can do this!" And with that, the Asgardian disappeared into thin air.

"That's not fair!" she exclaimed quietly. "You can't turn 'imvismobile!'"

CJ woke up at eight in the morning to the smell of Brooke brewing a hot pot of coffee. As the teen shuffled into the kitchen, she saw her friend leaning against the counter with her iPod in her hand.

"It's too early for this shit," she mumbled. "I couldn't sleep last night so I just started reading a bunch of fan fiction."

CJ chuckled and sat at the island. "What kind of fic are you reading?"

"A Wincest fic," she replied with an evil grin. "A smutty one that takes place right after Cas disappeared into the lake. Sam is trying to be the comforting little brother, but ends up romantically taking Dean from Castiel forever. It's almost…sad."

CJ nodded once and stood up. "I'm thirsty," she muttered as she walked to the fridge. "Oh, look!" she said with joy as she pulled out a bottle. "Grapefruit juice! My favorite!"

Thor stumbled into the kitchen. He had been searching for Loki and Pamplemousse for almost four hours with no success of even finding a trace. He looked at the two friends standing in the room. The fair skinned, black haired one was looking at her small television while CJ sipped some kind of pinkish liquid from an elegant looking glass.

"Tell me, my friend," he said as he gestured to CJ. "What kind of drink is that?"

CJ took a swig and smiled. "It's delicious grapefruit juice!"

Thor felt his heart sink as rage filled his body.

Steve woke up to the sound of screams echoing throughout the house. Grabbing his shield, he bolted out of his room and headed towards the sounds of despair.

Steve turned the corner to the kitchen and saw Thor, hammer in hand, lifting CJ off the ground.

"You've killed her, haven't you?!" the god shouted in rage. "Haven't you?!"

CJ tried to speak, but couldn't over shouts of Brooke.

"She didn't!" Brooke screamed at Thor. "She didn't!"

Toni and Tony stopped directly behind Steve with Bruce and Clint following close behind. "What the hell is going on?" Stark asked in haste.

"This harlot has killed my friend!" Thor shouted as tears came to his eyes. "She has killed the young grapefruit!"

CJ frantically shook her head, looking terrified.

"CJ killed Pamplemousse?!" Bruce exclaimed in shock, while looking slightly hurt.

"No she didn't!" Brooke shouted again. "She didn't!"

"Lies!" Thor screamed. "She said she was drinking grapefruit juice! She has killed my friend and turned her to liquid form!"

Bruce relaxed ever so slightly as Tony let out a sigh of relief. "Well, if that's all-"

The billionaire was interrupted by Mjölnir to the chest. He fell to the ground, with the immoveable hammer pinning him down.

"That is not all!" he shouted, sounding more sad as he went on. "She has killed my friend, and you act like it's nothing!"

"Thor, wait!" Pamplemousse shouted as she ran into the kitchen. She got close enough to hug him around the leg. "I'm fine! She didn't kill me this time!"

Thor immediately dropped CJ and picked up Pamplemousse, hugging her as closely as possible without crushing her little body. "I feared for the worst, young Grapefruit!" he said as he started to sob. "I thought she had killed you!"

She hugged him back and started to cry while mumbling something incoherent.

Tony's groans of displeasure broke Thor and Pamplemousse out of their friendship embrace.

"Man of Iron!" Thor shouted in glee. "Let me help you!"

"Yeah, please do," he muttered. "This is very uncomfortable."

Thor lifted his hammer off Tony with enough ease and grace to look like the immoveable weapon weighed less than a paperweight. As the god helped his friend off the ground, Loki ran around the corner, smiling like a small child on Christmas morning.

"I am victorious!" he shouted to the skies. "I am indeed the best hider of them all!"

"Nuh uh!" Pamplemousse retorted quickly. "Thor was gonna kill CJ! That's cheating!"

"You gave up!" the god of mischief replied. "Therefore, I am the best!"

Pamplemousse and Loki continued to shout at each other in a nonsensical fashion, Tony started to rub his temples as if he was developing a migraine, and Bruce just looked relieved that Thor had been wrong.

"Oh for god's sake," Brooke groaned. When nobody responded, she shouted at all of them. "Shut the hell up!"

The kitchen fell silent as they all turned towards Brooke. "What?" she demanded. "You expect me to function with all that bullshit?"

Toni sighed and stepped forward. "Ya know, maybe we should all get out of the house today. I mean, we've all been cooped up in here for a couple days now."

"She's right," Tony said with a smile. "We'll go out and have fun today, my treat!"

"What about the tests?" Clint asked accusingly.

"The tests we're still waiting on will take about forty-eight hours to fully develop," Bruce added. "We'll have plenty of time to kill."

"Great!" Tony said as Natasha walked in. "We'll all go out today and do something exciting and fun!"

"Can we go to Sea World?!" Tasha asked with a smile.

"Sea World?" Clint asked in shock. "But that's so far away! How are we even-"

"Tony could charter one of his jets," Bruce added.

"I wanna go to Sea World!" Pamplemousse exclaimed.

Tony sighed with a smile on his face as he dug his cell out of his pocket.


	17. Chapter 17

Pamplemousse ran up to Bruce and tugged on his sleeve excitedly. "Did you see it? Did you see it?" she asked quickly.

"Yes, I did," the scientist replied with a smile as he took her hand in his.

"That was the biggest turtle I ever saw!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"That is nothing compared to the large aquatic mammal we witnessed an hour ago!" Thor bellowed. "What is that creature called?"

"It's called a whale, Point Break," Tony added as he strolled quietly at the back of the pack. "It's what this place is known for."

"And did you see that shark!" Pamplemousse added as if she didn't even hear Thor or Tony. She looked up at Bruce who, in turn, looked back down at her. "It was almost as big as you when you're grumpy!"

CJ howled with laughter as Bruce blushed slightly, feeling a little ashamed that the Other Guy had been brought up. "That's true," he said sheepishly.

"But I like you better," Pamplemousse added as she snuggled close to him, feeling tired all of a sudden. "You're the best daddy ever."

Bruce effortlessly picked up the young girl and carried her on his back. He was surprised that she had managed to stay awake this long. The whole gang had spent the entire day at Sea World and the surrounding area moving from one place to the next with all kinds of excitement and energy.

All the Avengers and company filed on to Tony's private jet. The billionaire followed directly behind Bruce, who was still carrying the now sleeping Pamplemousse on his back. "Best daddy ever, huh?"

Bruce gave a small smile. "She probably didn't mean to say 'daddy,'" he replied. "She knows better than that."

"She doesn't have a father figure," Tony quickly interjected. "That's kind of the reason why adoption was created."

****

Toni held a hand of cards as she sat directly across the small airplane table from her father. "Got any sevens, Thor?"

"I do not," the god replied. "Go fish."

Toni took a card and looked at the remaining cards in her hand.  
"Brother!" Thor bellowed as quietly as possible, so he wouldn't wake Pamplemousse or Bruce. "Do you have any fours?"

"How many times must I tell you that I am not playing that game?" Loki asked coldly as he inched his way towards the miniature kitchen. "I will not associate myself with such foolery."

"Then what're you doing?" Toni asked as she squinted over at Loki.

A devilish grin spread across his face as he opened the fridge. "I am proving to the young one that I am indeed the best."

Toni sighed and shook her head as she turned back to her hand of cards. She squinted at the cards and moved them closer to her face.

"Having trouble?" her dad asked with legitimate concern.

She sighed again and shook her head. "I'm just having trouble reading the cards."

"Maybe you need glasses."

"What are these glasses you speak of?" Thor asked. "Certainly glasses are for drinking, not seeing."

Toni and Tony chuckled to themselves as they continued to play their game.

****

"I can't believe I lost her as quickly as I found her," Clint mumbled to Nat.

"I know it's not easy," she replied as she poured her friend a glass of water. "But I'm sure it's for the best. I don't think Tony could've handled you dating his daughter."

"But Nat, I really do care about her. I just don't know how to show it."

The Russian spy sat next to the archer and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sure everything will turn out okay. Just give it a little time."

"I'd hate to see her with anyone else."

"Welcome to my world," she muttered bitterly.

Clint looked up at his lifelong friend and saw the lost little girl she had been trying to hide from everyone all her life. It was then that he realized what she meant. "Nat, I'm sorry. I…I didn't realize…"

She shook her head and stood up. "It's not a big deal. I knew it would happen eventually."

Clint stood and pulled her into a hug, holding her as close as he could. He could feel her warm tears through his t-shirt as she hugged him back.

"It killed me to see you chase after her," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I wanted nothing but to be _her._ But it killed me even more to see the two of you split up so quickly. I felt like I had been the wedge that drove you apart."

"Shh," he muttered softly in her ear. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault, I promise."

The two S.H.E.I.L.D. agents stood there in a warm embrace, wishing things could be this easy again.

****

Loki crawled over to where Pamplemousse and Bruce were sleeping with a bottle of whipped cream and a long, elegant feather.

"Loki?" Toni asked from the table. "What are you doing?"

The god of mischief uncapped the bottle and shook it a couple of times. He leaned away and put a large pile of the creamy goodness on the young one's hand.

"That kind of thing usually backfires," Tony added as he set down a couple of cards in his discard pile.

Loki, still leaning away, started to tickle her nose with the feather, trying not to giggle.

Like Tony had predicted, the Asgardian's prank backfired. Instead of wiping her face with her hand, she rubbed her t-shirt sleeve across her face and accidently put the whipped cream covered hand into Loki's face.

The god shouted an Asgardian curse in frustration, which caused Bruce to startle awake and Pamplemousse to stir uneasily.

Her eyes fluttered open and saw Loki standing right next to her. "Loki?" she asked sleepily. "Why do you have whipped cream on your face?"

Loki sighed and hung his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Pamplemousse licking the cream off his face.

"What?!" he shouted. "What was that?!"

"Rule number 13, don't waste perfectly good whipped cream," Pamplemousse said as innocently as possible. "Right, Brooke?"

Brooke gave a thumb's up as she exited the kitchen with a cup of coffee. "Righto."

"Do you ever stop drinking coffee?" Steve asked from the other end of the aisle. "I feel like every time I see you, you have a cup in your hands."

Brooke opened her mouth to retort when Loki stood up looking infuriated. "I've had enough of this ridiculousness!"

"Cool your tits, Frosty Paws," Brooke practically hissed at Loki. "You don't need to get all pissy because your plan backfired."

Just then, Clint and Tasha entered the room as everyone fell completely silent. After just standing there for a few minutes, Clint finally broke the tension. "Well, this is hawkward."

Toni tried, but failed, to hold back giggles and pretty soon, she was full on howling with laughter. One by one, all the others in the room joined in, feeling free and happy after a long couple of days.

Tony looked at his daughter who returned his gaze. This was the freest the genius ever felt, and it was, essentially, because of her.


	18. Chapter 18

Brooke threw herself onto the overly comfortable bed once they reached the mansion. It had been kind of an exhausting day, and she was more than ready for some deep sleep.

"How can that be healthy?" Steve asked from the hallway outside her door. "Wouldn't all that caffeine just stop her heart?"

Brooke sat up in bed at the realization that he was talking about her.

"I don't know, Cap," Tony replied.

"Maybe she should limit how much she has in a day."

"Come on, Steve. We'll talk about this later, okay?"

Brooke heard the door to Tony's room close and her heart sank. Why would they talk about her behind her back, even if it was something as simple as her coffee intake?

She looked over her shoulder and stared at the darkened reflection staring back. She wasn't pretty like Toni was. She wasn't smart like CJ was. She wasn't cute and adorable like Pamplemousse was. They were obviously concerned about her, but they wouldn't even talk to her about it. What did that even mean?

The young lady stood and walked over to the mirror and looked closer at the teen staring back. She was thin as a twig with pale skin and big brown eyes. Five piercings graced her face; two lip rings, two nose studs, and a septum ring. She looked at herself in almost a scrutinizing way. Maybe she was too small? Too pale? Were her piercings too scary? Who knows!

The more she thought about all these things, the more desperate she felt. For as long as she could remember, she wanted to defy the norm, go against the grain. But now? Now, she felt like she had gone _too_ far.

 _"_ _Mama?" the little brunette girl asked as her brown puppy dog eyes gazed up at the older woman at her side._

 _"What?" she replied harshly._

 _"Can I be a cat when I grow up, mama? I want to be a cat someday."_

 _Her mother rolled her eyes and sighed sharply. "Why the hell would you want to be a cat?"_

 _"Because cats are lucky. They get to lay in the sun all day and they can sleep where and when they want to. Can I please be a cat, mama?"_

 _"Goddamn it, just leave me alone!" she screamed at the six year old. "Why can't you be like everyone else?! You'll never have any friends!"_

 _Brooke started to cry as her mother's hand made contact with her cheek with a resounding crack._

 _"Mama, that hurt!"_

Brooke snapped out of her daze and saw her reflection in the mirror. She could see the scared little girl looking back, crying silently.

She sniffled and realized that she was crying too.

****

Toni woke up covered in sweat and tears, screaming. She plastered her hands to her mouth to muffle the sound as she sprang up to a sitting position. After she calmed down enough to stop screaming, her head went on an immediate swivel around the room with her heart ramming against her ribcage. Once she realized that she was alone, she removed her hand and started to cry silently. _It was a dream,_ she thought to herself. _Just a dream…_

The teen was slightly startled by a soft knocking on her door. The door creaked open a crack and let warm light spill through. A head blocked some of the light as someone peaked into the room.

"Toni?" a male voice asked quietly.

"Come in," she replied as her voice cracked.

The door opened fully and the man walked into her room, shutting the door behind him. She could hear him walking close to her and felt him sit on the bed. Then, a light blue light appeared from nowhere, illuminating Loki's face and body.

"Are you okay?" he asked soothingly.

The girl nodded and wiped her face. "Yeah," she mumbled. "Just…a bad dream."

"What was it about?" the god asked quietly and sincerely.

Toni shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Loki reached out to put on hand on her shoulder only to have Toni press herself to the headboard with her arms wrapped protectively around herself. Loki slowly retracted his hand and looked at the young girl in front of him. Her eyes welled up with tears as she stared at him with a receding fear.  
"I'm sorry," she mumbled as she let her head fall in defeat. "I'm so sorry, Loki."

Her shoulders jerked and she drew her knees to her chest as she started to cry.

"You don't need to apologize to me, Antoinette," he said softly. "I understand how real that dream may have felt."

Toni looked up at Loki, tears still streaming down her face. "It was," she said, voice breaking. "It _was_ real."

Loki watched as she started to break down again, feeling all too empathetic. "What happened, dearest?"

She sniffled and looked back up at the god. "It was _him,_ " she muttered. " _He_ did it to me."

"What did he do?"

She looked away, as if she was ashamed of what she was going to say. "He…raped me."

****

Pamplemousse curled to Bruce in her sleep as the scientist stroked her hair and back. He found it nearly impossible to sleep, and found solace in familiar feel of this little girl in his arms.

 _What if I ever hurt her?_ he thought to himself. _I could never live with myself._

Pamplemousse stirred next to him and he froze. "Daddy," she mumbled as she pressed herself closer to the doctor. He smiled at her. _Daddy,_ he thought. _I like that_

****

Steve and Tony had fallen into the habit of sleeping together. It was comforting to Tony and reassuring to Steve, but neither of them would admit that the real reason they slept in each other's arms was because of how they felt; the two of them were madly in love with each other.

****

Clint stared at the ceiling above him and Natasha. She had fallen asleep in his lap as they watched a movie in her room. Clint couldn't sleep, not here and definitely not now. His mind drifted elsewhere. His mind was on Toni, and he couldn't help it. Was she still mad at him? Would she ever give him a second chance? What lay in store for them was a completely mystery to him, and he didn't like it.

But maybe she didn't like it either. Change seemed to almost scare the teen girl, and maybe for good reason. Clint didn't know what her story was or how her life had been. Maybe she was as broken as him. But above all else, he hoped she was happy.


	19. Chapter 19

Clint's pancakes were, as per usual, a delicious success. Pamplemousse sat between Toni and Bruce, preparing for the delicacy.

"These are the best pancakes you'll ever have, Pamplemousse," Toni said with a sleepy smile. "You won't want any other kind after this."

The young girl smiled as she loaded the rest of her plate with fruit, toast, and bacon. "I can't wait!"

"I wonder where Brooke is," CJ said as she put a slice of bacon in her mouth. "It's not like her to be late like this."

Just then, as if on cue, Brooke walked into the kitchen. Toni gasped and dropped her fork, causing a resounding clang as Pamplemousse froze and CJ choked on her bacon.

Brooke smoothed her muted pink sundress and cleared her throat nervously. "Morning," she mumbled self-consciously. She itched her nose where her piercings _should_ have been and bit her lip where her lip rings used to be.

She slowly, almost cautiously, walked towards the coffee machine. She grabbed a mug, grabbed the pot, and froze suddenly. She stood there staring at the coffee pot in her hand for a minute or two before setting down her mug and removing her hand from the liquid gold.

Before anybody could say anything, Brooke grabbed one of the large plates and stacked three pancakes on the side. She looked at Pamplemousse's plate and mimicked what the young girl had put on hers; a helping of fruit, two slices of toast, and four strips of thick, juicy bacon.

"Brooke, aren't you a vegetarian?" Natasha asked from across the table.

The teen didn't respond as she sat down next to Steve. "Good morning," she mumbled softly.

Brooke grabbed a fork and started to eat the pancakes. "These are really good, Clint," she said in his general direction. "I can't remember having better."

Then, Brooke grabbed a piece of bacon off her plate. She looked at it, almost in disgust. What was she supposed to do with this? Eat it? Looking like she might throw up any second, Brooke moved the meat closer to her mouth, opened wide and….

"Brooke, stop!" Toni finally shouted, making the black-haired girl jump and drop the bacon strip. "What's going on?"

"I don't understand what you mean," she said daintily.

"You're wearing a dress, for one. You _never_ wear dresses. You took out all your piercings, which haven't left your face longer than a few minutes since they were put in. You didn't grab a cup of coffee, you didn't make any snide remarks, you're actually eating for once, and you almost trashed your five year vegetarian ways. What's going on?"

Brooke stared at her friend and felt tears well up. She looked at Pamplemousse, who was looking at her from under her bangs. "Why haven't you said anything?" she asked, trying to keep herself together.

The young one looked around, desperate for an easier way to say what was on her mind. "Rule number 22," she mumbled as if she were in trouble. "Don't talk to Brooke before she's had her coffee."

Brooke sighed in defeat and wiped her eyes. "I felt too different," she said with her regular voice. "I felt like I wasn't normal enough for the group."

Clint started to chuckle slightly under his breath, only to start full on giggling at the absurd statement.

"What the hell is so funny?" she demanded.

"You!" he said between giggles. "You think we're _normal?_ "

"Well…yeah."

Tony started to giggle a little too, as if the laughter was truly contagious. Soon after Tony started, Natasha joined in.

"We're anything _but_ normal!" she howled. "That's a compliment!"

Brooke looked around, feeling slightly self-conscious. All of the Avengers were laughing at her now.

"What we mean," Bruce said, trying to calm down from his laughing fit. "Is that you don't realize how not-normal we are. I mean, I turn into, as Tony mentioned when we first met, a green rage monster. That's not exactly normal."

"And I'm an American icon that lived in the forties."

"I'm a Russian spy that has been adopted by an undercover organization."

"I shoot arrows better than anyone, but I can't use that talent anywhere except in combat against bad guys."

"I am the God of Mischief. Surely, I am not normal."

"You see," Toni said soothingly. "You're probably the most normal one here."

"I just feel like I don't fit in."

"You do!" Pamplemousse exclaimed happily. "You're one of my best friends!"

"Brooke, you're so well fitted to this group. I can't imagine anyone else in your place."

Brooke smiled as she looked at everyone around her. "Well now I feel silly," she muttered sarcastically.

Toni smiled at her friend. "Now there's the Brooke we all know."

****

Natasha was walking with Pamplemousse and Toni out on the patio around two o'clock.

"It's so pretty out here," Pamplemousse said with a great, big smile.

Nat nodded and continued on with their walk, looking thoughtfully at the trees and plants around them.

Suddenly, the spy froze and looked up at the sky. "Do you guys hear that?"

****

"Alert," JARVIS chimed around the house. "There is an incident in the courtyard."

Tony put down his welder. "What kind of incident?"

"Antoinette, Pamplemousse, and the Black Widow are in imminent danger."

"Prep the suit," Tony said as he threw his welding goggles across the lab. "Now!"

****

Loki and Steve were the first ones to reach the small group in the garden. What they saw took the spangled-man's breath away.

Toni and Nat were covered in blood on the ground with Pamplemousse on her knees next to them.

Bruce and Tony arrived next, with Clint and Thor on their heels.

"Toni?" her father shouted as he fell to his knees next to her.

The blood-covered teen wrapped her arms around him and started to sob incoherently. Pamplemousse did similarly when Bruce reached for her.

"Nat, no!" Clint shouted as he fell down next to her, starting to cry. "No, you can't do this to us. You can't just leave us like this."

The spy looked at her former lover through a blood-covered haze. "Clint?" she asked weakly. "I'm so sorry."

Loki knelt next to them and proceeded to attempt a healing spell. "You have nothing to apologize for," the god mumbled. "You've done nothing wrong."

"They…it…tried to get Toni. I…I couldn't…"

"Shh, it's okay, Nat," Clint mumbled through tears. "You've just gotta pull through, okay? We _need_ you."

Natasha shook her head, feeling dizzy. "No," she muttered. "No you don't."

"Don't talk like that," Bruce said soothingly. "Of course we do."

Pamplemousse sniffled and leaned closer to her new friend. "That's rule number two: You're not allowed to die."

The spy shook her head again. "These things happen," she muttered. "I'm happy to die knowing I protected you."

"Don't even!" Clint exclaimed. "You don't get to do this to us. You can't just give up like that, you have to keep fighting."

CJ finally arrived and looked at Nat. "No, no, no," she mumbled. "No, it can't be like this! Not now! No! Natasha, no!"

Brooke held the spy's cool hand. "You have to stay with us, okay? Please, stay with us."

Bruce looked at the Avengers. "I'm going to run and grab my med bag. Keep her talking, keep her going." And with that, the good doctor got up and ran back to the house.

"I thought you were a bro," CJ muttered through tears. "Bros don't die."

Nat smiled weakly at her friends as her heavy eyelids sank, pulling her completely into the darkness.


	20. Chapter 20

If nothing else, S.H.I.E.L.D. was highly efficient. In a matter of two days, various agents had contacted all of Natasha's affiliates and friends to alert them of the accident. Since most of her acquaintances were under S.H.I.E.L.D. authority, they were able to be flown in to New York to hear what really happened: She had been attacked by a hostile force.

Toni sat in one of the uncomfortable agency chairs in Agent Schaefer's office. Next to her, Tony looked even more uncomfortable, but it was more of an emotional discomfort instead of a physical one.

"Is something vrong, Herr Stark?" Schaefer asked with his thick German accent.

He nodded. "Yeah, this office belonged to a different agent. One that I was particularly fond of."

"Ah yes, ze late Agent Coulson."

Tony flinched slightly and sighed. "Yes, Coulson."

The agent nodded and organized his stack of papers for the third time since they've sat down. "Vell, let's get down to business," he said fairly formally. "You did not alert ze Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division that you had taken in a civilian into your home, and zerefore broke zree violations in ze handbook."

"Look, Fritz-"

"My name is not Fritz," he said, clearly annoyed. "You will refer to me as Agent Schaefer, and nothing else."

"-she's my daughter. I figured she didn't need some kind of formal introduction."

"But you also have zree other teenagers residing in Avengers' Tower, no?"

"Yes, but-"

"Zat is a clear violation of ze Code of Conduct of which you are required to follow as a part of ze Strategic Homeland Intervention and-"

"Look, I don't know if you know this, but there is an acronym-"

"Zat is not the point, Herr Stark!" Agent Schaefer shouted. "Because of your ignorance, one of your teammates has fallen!"

No one in the room dared to speak. An uncomfortable silence filled the area and made Antoinette feel more uncomfortable than before.

"Now," the young agent started as he brushed some of his brown hair back. "I read in ze report zat this young lady claims to be your daughter."

"I am," Toni said confidently.

"She is," Tony added.

"We don't know zat," Schaefer replied. "Ve vill be doing an extensive DNA test to make sure. And as for ze others-"

"They stay," Tony said as he leaned forward as if he was in the middle of making a business deal. "I won't take no for an answer."

"Vat compels you to say so, Herr Stark?"

Tony folded his hands, a sign that Toni learned that he knew his argument could not be outmatched. "Well for one, those three are my daughter's best friends. Actually, I take that back, they're her family. Two, Dr. Banner has taken a fatherly interest in the youngest that doesn't have a home or a family. Three, they're as much of the team as my assistant Pepper Potts is. If you force them to leave, you'll have to force her too, and she's the only one that can, as you claim, control my 'irrational behavior.'"

Schaefer nodded as he processed the data. "I understand, Herr Stark," he finally said after a minute of pure silence. "But I'd like to make sure zat ze kleine is truly homeless. I vill run a manner of tests on her."

"Now, say 'ah.'"

Pamplemousse opened her mouth wide and stared at the agent in front of her. "Ah…" she droned.

Agent Schaefer looked down the ten year-old's throat with a flashlight. "Mmhm," he muttered to himself. "Sehr gute. You seem to be very healthy, meine kleine."

Pamplemousse's eyes went wide. "What?" she asked nervously.

"You're healthy," he repeated. "Vhy do you seem so afraid of zat?"

"You talk funny," she said almost shyly. "Not like Loki funny, but…funny."

"I don't sink I understand, meine kleine. Vat do you mean?"

"Who's Mine Climb?" she asked.

Schaefer chuckled and patted her head. "I said 'meine kleine.' It's German for 'my little one.'"

"Oh," she said after a moment of silence. "You can call me by my name."

"Und vat vould zat be?"

"Pamplemousse!" she said excitedly.

"Isn't zat French for 'grapefruit?'"

"So there's a new guy running our show? Why weren't we told?"

Fury sighed. "Because we had to make sure he was the right guy for the job, Agent Barton. And I don't think you're the one to talk about a lack of information. Just when were you planning on telling me that Tony Stark's daughter and her little buddies were living with you guys?"

Clint shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry, Director. None of us saw the relevance of-"

"I don't care, Agent Barton," Fury said smoothly. "It's over and done with. Go with everyone else back home. You guys need each other now more than ever."

Bruce was falling asleep in the uncomfortable hospital chair. He had been awake for hours, just waiting for the doctor to say whether or not she was going to slip out of limbo.

"It's all up in the air right now. She really could go either way at this point. We'll just have to wait and see if she manages to come out of this coma."

Bruce shook his head. He didn't want to think about what the doctor had said to him. At the moment, he was more concerned about what the doctor was going to say to him.


	21. Chapter 21

Agent Schaefer sighed and leaned back in his black swivel office chair. He had shed his coat, rolled up the sleeves to his white button down and loosened his black tie. His usually neat brown hair was disheveled and he was on his fifth cup of coffee.

"Agent Schaefer?"

He turned quickly at the sound of the young female voice at the door. "Agent Lynch," he said calmly. "Vat are you doing here so late?"

She blushed ever so slightly and gently pulled on the hem of her shirt. "I was working on some paperwork and saw that you were still running tests in the lab," she smiled lightly and looked down at the floor as if she was embarrassed. "I would've felt bad if I just left you here in this big ol' building by yourself."

"Vell, I appreciate your company, but I voudn't vant you to miss out on important sleeping time."

"Oh, that's okay," she said with more courage than before. "Maybe you could lose sleep with me."

Agent Schaefer stared at her in confusion. It wasn't until she started to unbutton her blouse that her words really sunk in. "Oh," he said, blushing.

"Would you like to lose sleep with me, Agent Schaefer?" she asked with a wink.

"I…uh…I still have to check on ze lab tests," he muttered as he tried to get around her. "I voudn't vant to lose all ze important data."

"Don't worry," she said seductively as she blocked his path. "I'll give you some different data to work on."

She let her blouse slip off her slender frame and leaned forward to undo his belt buckle.

"Oh, nein!" he shouted in fear.

"What's a matter, Agent Schaefer? New to this?"

"I…uh…yes, I mean...no…I just…"

Agent Lynch leaned forward to kiss him only to have Agent Schaefer place one finger on her lips to stop her. "I like you, Agent Lynch, but not like zis. I like you as a coverker."

The woman glared at the German agent and slipped her blouse back on. "Very well," she practically spat at him. "Your tests are done,anyway."

Bruce paced around the waiting room, expecting the doctor to come in any minute to tell him what was happening with Natasha.

"Bruce, relax," Brooke said as she patted the chair next to her. "Sit down and take a nap or something. Someone will wake you up if the doc comes back."

"I don't think that's-"

"You, ass, chair, now." she emphasized.

Bruce rolled his eyes and sat down, feel overwhelmingly tired. "Tell Loki to stop working a sleeping spell. If I fall asleep on my own, then so be it."

Brooke glanced over at Loki and gave him a quick hand signal. Loki sighed and picked up a magazine. Once he started to leaf through it, Bruce felt less tired and more physically exhausted. He had been up for nearly twelve hours now with no word on his friend.

The doctor's eyes slowly slid shut as he entered dream land.

"How long has he been sleeping?" Tony asked as he entered the waiting room.

"A couple of hours," Brooke replied. "We told him we'd wake him up if the doctor came back with any kind of news."

Clint stood up and walked over to the coffee machine. "Why haven't they said anything yet? Do you think they're prolonging the inevitable?"

Loki shook his head. "I doubt it. If she were dying, they would've said something."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm the god of lies and deceit," he said bluntly. "Withholding information is a form of lying. I would've felt a surge of power or…something."

"'Or something?' Loki, you don't sound so sure about that."

"I know a lie when I see it. I don't quite know how to explain it, but I just know."

"My brother is right," Thor added. "He's always had an affinity with the works of deceit."

"Guys?" Pamplemousse said quietly. "What's wrong with Bruce?"

Everyone looked over to see Bruce shaking in his sleep.

Bruce woke up in his own bed, even though he didn't quite remember how he got there. The room was still dark, but with what light he had, he could easily make out Pamplemousse's silhouette lying next to him. He smiled and stretched, his hand brushing the pillow her head was on. The cloth was wet, probably from her tears.

Bruce shook it off and walked into the attached bathroom. He turned on the light and his eyes locked on his reflection.

Whatever clothing remained on his body was in shreds, a sight he was used to after surrendering to the 'Other Guy.' But what shocked him more was the blood. Bruce was covered almost head to toe in blood.

He looked down at the hand that touched Pamplemousse's pillow. That hand was covered in fresher blood than the rest of his body. That meant that the blood was not his.

The good doctor turned and ran back into the bedroom and threw on the light. There, covered in crimson liquid, was a broken Pamplemousse lying on his bed. He screamed in fear, anger, and hatred. The one person that he had truly cared about, truly loved, he killed without even realizing it.

He could feel his skin crawling, like it usually did when he transformed into the Hulk. He let out one more scream before feeling a pair of ghost hands pulling him back into reality.

Bruce woke with start, which made Brooke jump. "Whoa, brosiden! Cool your tits!" She exclaimed loudly. Then, with a more calm tone she continued. "It's just me. It looked like you were having some kind of fit, so we woke you up."

Bruce sighed and slumped back in the chair, looking more worn than he had when he fell asleep. "It's okay," he said shakily. "I'm fine."

"Lies," Loki said without looking up from the copy of Tiger Beat in his hand.

Bruce glared at the god from across the waiting room. "Thanks, jerk."

"Anytime," he replied. "Did you know that Jelena may be ending? It's sad, really. They go so well together."

"Loki," Tony started. "Are you actually-"

"Sixty-one percent of people actually want them to stay together!"

"Brother, enough with this nonsense!"

"But, Thor, it's Jelena…"

"Goddamn it, is that the stupid relationship name for Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez?" Brooke asked with an irritated tone.

"Well, yes."

Brooke threw her head back and exclaimed a fairly loud sound of displeasure. "I fucking hate them!"

Pamplemousse raised a hand shyly. "I think they're cute together…"

Brooke gave a quick glare and opened her mouth to speak, only to have Loki interrupt. "Oo! I could win One Direction's love!"

Natasha woke up on the floor. Why she was there, she wasn't sure. From where she was lying, she could see white tennis shoes and festive scrub bottoms. She must've been in the hospital after her attack. What she couldn't wrap her head around was the fact that the nurse wasn't making any effort to try and get her off the floor.

"Anna," said a male voice. Natasha turned and looked at the doctor coming into the room. "How's our patient doing?"

"Still comatose, I'm afraid. Her vitals are fairly normal though."

"I'm not comatose," Natasha said, a little offended. "I'm on the floor."

The doctor sighed. "So I have nothing new to tell her friends." He shook his head and grabbed the chart.

"You could tell them that you just let me lie helplessly on the floor."

"Has she had her medication yet?"

"Yes, she has," the nurse, Anna, replied.

Natasha finally found the strength to stand. "Okay, guys. Joke's over now."

The doctor looked at Nat and sighed. "Poor thing. She didn't even see it coming."

Then, he walked through her to the bed side.

She spun around and looked where the doctor was standing. She could barely breath as she stared at herself, lying on the hospital bed.

"I…I'm having an out-of-body experience."

 **Notes:**

Sorry I haven't updated the story lately, I forgot and making the story fit with the rest is kind of difficult.


	22. Chapter 22

Bruce was sitting in Natasha's room, watching her intently to get his mind off the nightmare.

"I wish you would wake up, Natasha," he said softly. "That would make things a lot easier."

"I am awake, Bruce," she muttered from the chair next to him. "Why can't you see me? Why can't you at least hearme? That would make things a lot easier."

A soft knock drew both of their attentions. "Hey, Dr. Banner," Steve said from the doorway. "Can I join you?"

Bruce gestured to the third chair in the semi-circle. "Please do, Cap."

Steve sat across from Natasha's chair and tried to make himself comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. "So how are you doing?"

The scientist shrugged. "Fine, I suppose. The whole thing with Nat is hitting us all pretty hard."

"That's not what I meant," Steve replied without missing a beat. "I meant after your nightmare in the waiting room. You moved awfully fast out of there."

"Oh," he said with a grim, hallow smirk on his face. "That."

"What nightmare?" Natasha asked. "Why didn't you mention anything about that? Oh wait, you can't freaking see me!"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asked, oblivious to the spy's shouts. "I'm always here to help if you need it."

Bruce sighed and leaned his head back. "It was…it was horrible," he said slowly with a shaking voice. "I woke up in my own bed, and Pamplemousse was dead. I killed her. I beat her to death while I was the Other Guy. I…I didn't even realize I did it."

Steve nodded slowly and put a hand on his shoulder. "It was just a nightmare, Bruce. Pamplemousse is fine. She's a little worried about you, yeah, but other than that…"

"But it felt so real, and it's the one thing I fear. I really care about her, and I would do anything to protect her. But the Hulk? I'm not so sure if he feels the same."

"Tell him that he would never hurt her, Steve," Nat said as she leaned forward and tried, but failed, to put a hand on his knee. "Let him know that she can never be hurt around him."

"I don't think you'd let him hurt her, Bruce. I don't think you'd have it in you."

"Thank you!" Natasha said with exasperation. "At least you and I are on the same wavelength."

"You mean that?"

"Of course he does! Steve, please tell him-"

"Of course I do," Steve unintentionally interrupted. "You'd never hurt that little girl."

Bruce smiled lightly, like he was just starting to believe that he could be happy.

Natasha sighed and shook her head. "We're a pretty messed up group, aren't we."

Schaefer rushed into the hospital waiting room where nearly all the Avengers were sitting.

"Who are you?" Brooke asked as she looked up from her Rolling Stones magazine. "Are you homeless or do you just look that way?"

Schaefer felt his heart skip a beat and his breath leave his lungs. He quickly shook his head as if to erase the feelings.

"This is Agent Schaefer," Tony said when the agent didn't respond.

"So you're Coulson's replacement?" Clint asked skeptically.

Schaefer cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, I am, Agent Barton," he said with his thick German accent. "Und I have some very important news to share."

"He's German!" Clint exclaimed in a near rage. "They gave us a German replacement!"

"Zer iz nothing vrong vith my nationality."

"No, no. Of course not," Clint said sarcastically. "We just have an American patriot from the 40's. No big deal there, Fritz."

"Vhy vould it be a big deal?"

"That's the time of the Nazis, idjit!" Clint shouted. "Cap was trained to kill Nazis!"

"What about killing Nazis?" Steve said as he and Bruce entered the waiting room.

Schaefer felt his heart swell with joy. "You're Captain America!" he said with glee. "I've heard so much about you, Herr Rogers!"

"Who are you?"

"I am Agent Schaefer," he replied, accent and all, as he extended his hand towards the super soldier.

"You're from Germany?"

"Born und raised," he said calmly.

"I'm assuming you're not from Hitler's time?"

Schaefer shook his head.

Steve took the agent's hand and shook it. "Glad to hear it, Agent. I take it your Agent Coulson's replacement?"

Schaefer nodded slightly. "Yes, but I don't expect to replace ze friendship all of you had vith him."

Steve nodded and let go of his hand. "Thank you," he said quietly with a hint of a smile on his face.

Clint stared at the two of them with shock. "Well, shit," he finally said. "I guess I owe you an apology, Schaefer."

"No apology needed, Agent Barton," he said simply. "You did not know how your colleague vould react, so you acted how you saw fit. No harm done."

Clint nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"Now, back to ze business at hand. I vould advise zat ze child be removed from zis situation."

"What's he mean by 'removed?' Is he talking funny like Loki?"

Brooke placed a calming hand on the 10 year old's shoulder and smiled. "No, Pamplemousse. He just wants to have a private word with us."

"Is he telling you a secret?" she whispered.

"Maybe," Brooke whispered back. "I just need you to go find a vending machine and get me a bag of Gardetto's," she handed her two dollars. "You can also get whatever you'd like."

Her mouth spread into an excited grin as she took the bills and ran out of the room. "Thank you, Brooke-Brooke!"

Bruce smiled as she left the room, feeling more like his old self again.

"Now, I do believe zat zis concerns you ze most, Dr. Banner," Schaefer said sympathetically.

"Why do you say that?"

The agent held up a thick manila folder. "Zis is her record from before she lost her memory."

Bruce gently took the folder and started to leaf through it.

"Jasmine Irving," Schaefer started from memory. "Youngest in a family of four. Father vorked here at SHIELD in ze science department und her mother vas a middle school math teacher. She had an older brother named Eli. Zey vere very happy together until zey vere tortured und killed. Whoever did zis to zem also burned zeir house to ze ground," Schaefer paused. "She vas never found."

"So Pamplemousse…?"

"Is not who you think she is. Ze poor thing. Everyone at ze agency thought she died with everyone else."

"Did you ever find who did it?" Toni asked as she choked back tears.

Agent Schaefer shook his head. "No. Ze case vas never closed."

Bruce shook his head. "Why doesn't she have any memory of this? I…I don't understand."

"Some people repress memories zey never vant to remember. It's actually very common."

"But the idea that Pamplemousse witnessed her family be murdered is just absurd!" Brooke exclaimed. "She's so young."

Clint shook his head. "How sure are you, Schaefer?"

Tony sighed and plunked himself in the chair. "Clint, they have some of the best equipment that money can buy. He's almost certain."

Schaefer nodded at Tony and stayed silent for a while.

Natasha sat down next to Tony and looked up at the German agent. "You can see how much this hurts them, can't you? Do us a favor and give us some kind of good news, please!"

"But I do have some good news," Schaefer said as he handed Bruce another manila folder.

Bruce opened it and his face sort of lit up. "It went through?"

Schaefer smiled lightly. "I gave a recommendation for you, Dr. Banner."

Bruce's smile widened. "This is fantastic! You're fantastic! I…I can't believe it!"

The agent shrugged and smiled a little more. "I try as best as I can."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, looking utterly confused.

Bruce cleared his throat and tried to hide the smile. "I adopted Pamplemousse."


	23. Chapter 23

Tony had been kind enough to have JARVIS send a car to pick up Toni and Thor and bring them back to Avengers Tower for some well deserved rest.

"May I drive your vehicle?" Thor asked with a grin on his face. "It seems quite simple enough."

"Um…" Tony started. "No, not today, Point Break."

Toni looked up at the billionaire with a smile on her face. "How about me, daddy?" she asked with a falsetto voice as she bat her eyelashes at him.

Tony cringed and shook his head. "I told you not to call me that!" he exclaimed dejectedly.

The teen just rolled her eyes and sat next to Thor in the spacious back seat. "I was just kidding."

Steve leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll let you know if anything changes with Nat."

Toni nodded. "Thanks, Steve. Take care of my dad?"

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "Now you're just doing it on purpose."

Steve chuckled and nodded. "Of course I will."

"Watch out for her, Thor," Tony said quickly. "If I hear that anything happened to her-"

"There is no need for threat, Man of Iron," Thor interrupted. "I would be glad to lay down my life for her."

Tony nodded and shut the door before Antoinette could protest.

Nat followed Bruce and Clint around the hospital. Part of it was because she wanted to make sure they were doing okay. Mostly, though, she didn't want to be alone with herself, figuratively and literally.

"I wonder what's she's thinking about," Clint said quietly to Bruce.

"Nat's brain probably isn't functioning right now, Clint. She's in a coma."

"So coma patients don't do anything?"

"Not exactly," he replied earnestly. "Sometimes they can have an out-of-body experience, but that's rare."

"That's a thing?" Clint asked, sounding surprised. "I thought that was only in sci-fi movies."

Tasha rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "You have no idea," she said with almost a sad tone.

"Yeah, it's a thing," Bruce said, not knowing that she was standing right next to him. "But like I said, it's rare."

Natasha wanted to hug them both without going right through them, but it was impossible.

"Do you think she'd be able to talk to us if she was having one of those things?"

Suddenly, Nat jerked back as if she had been yanked by an invisible rope.

"Shit!" she shouted as she grabbed on to the front desk while the invisible force continued to pull.

"Call a code!" one of the attending nurses shouted as the doctor ran into the spy's room.

Bruce and Clint shared a look of pure terror. "Nat." Clint muttered in fear. The two of them ran to Nat's room to see a mess of doctors and nurses trying to help her out of her seizure.

Natasha couldn't hold on to the desk any longer. "Help me!" she shouted as her sweaty palms slipped off the cold surface. She blacked out, only to open her eyes to see everyone running around her.

"Damn, she's awake!" one of the nurses shouted.

"We need to prep her for surgery!" her main doctor said as he brought out a syringe full with a clear liquid. He leaned over to her IV and injected the drug. "Get the room set, we're moving her now."

She blacked out just as Bruce took a few steps towards her.

Tony walked down to the lab after Thor had informed him of his daughter's whereabouts. The sound of an arc welder and the radio lead him around the corner to see the teen bent over a large piece of metal machinery.

"Toni?" he said over the loud noises.

She looked back at him and turned off the welder. She yanked off the welding goggles and looked up at him, wiping some of the grease and oil off her face. "Hey," she muttered, grabbing the radio's remote control and turning off the music. "I didn't expect you home so early."

Tony sat down next to the dirty teen and looked at her project. "What's this?" he asked.

"It's the suit I helped you design that first day," she said without looking at him. "I figured I'd get started on it."

"You were supposed to be resting."

She shrugged and reached into her pant's pocket. "Couldn't sleep," she said indifferently. "I heard about Nat. Steve called me."

Tony let out a breath and hung his head. "Yeah, he told me that he told you everything."

Toni scoffed slightly and pulled out a tattered pack of cigarettes. "That's a bit of an understatement," she muttered as she put one of the tobacco sticks in her mouth and lit it with a black lighter.

"Since when do you smoke?" he asked in shock.

"I don't very often," she admitted. "I've gone three years without a single one. But this whole…" she sighed and looked down at her feet. "It's too much."

Tony got off his stool and walked closer to his daughter. "Hey," he said softly.

Without looking up at him, Toni tossed her cigarette on the ground and threw her arms around the genius, crying as she did so.

At first, he was surprised by the hug. But soon, he could feel some of his walls crumbling down as he hugged his mourning daughter.

 **Note:**

Sorry, I haven't been posting lately, I've been caught up in life. Hope you enjoy.


	24. Chapter 24

Toni, Brooke, Pamplemousse, and all the Avengers sat in Natasha's room as the doctor fiddled with some equipment. Agent Schaefer slowly walked in, looking like he just got done crying his eyes out.

"It's going to be a little bit before we can easily move her out of here," the doctor said softly after he finished. "SHIELD has some very specific requirements to go through."

Clint nodded and sniffled as fresh tears slid down his face. "Thank you for everything you did, doctor."

The doctor nodded and navigated his way out the door through the throng of people.

Agent Schaefer walked to Nat's body and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I vish I could've done something."

Tony shook his head and slumped in his chair. Steve wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder and lightly kissed the top of his head. "We did all we could. I'm sure she'd be proud of what we did."

Brooke nodded. "Yeah," she said through tears. "Besides, I'm sure this is the way she wanted to go; protecting all of us."

Agent Schaefer removed his hand from Natasha's shoulder and moved towards Brooke. He sat down next to her and looked down at his hands. "None of you even got to say goodbye," he said slowly. "And for that, I am truly and inexplicably sorry."

"Daddy?" Pamplemousse said to Bruce. "What's going to happen to her now? Where's she going to go?"

Bruce hugged his daughter closer to him and continued to trace small circles on her arm. "Nobody really knows, Pamplemousse."

The little girl looked up at Bruce, tears welling up in her eyes. "Do you think she went to Heaven?"

"Yeah," Clint said from across the room, trying to hold back a flood of tears. "Yeah, Nat went to Heaven. I don't think she'd end up anywhere else." At that point, Clint couldn't hold it back any longer and just let the sobs course through his body as he hung his head and cried into his hands.

Toni leaned over and put her head on her dad's shoulder, feeling supported and supportive at the same time. The three of them, Steve, Tony, and herself, held hands and cried together.

Thor held onto Pamplemousse's small hand as she cried into Bruce's shoulder and let Brooke cry onto his.

Loki just sat on the other side of the room, watching the group intently. He wouldn't admit to all of them that he was broken up by the spy's death. How could he? The only one who'd support him would be Thor, but he seemed too occupied to care.

"Loki?" Toni asked softly, her hand still in her dad's. "Are you doing okay?"

Loki tried to hold a brave face. How is it that she could care so much? Especially about someone like…like me. he thought to himself. The god tried to nod, tried to lie, only to break down crying. Yes, he mourned her death after all that they both had done to spite each other.

Toni stood and grabbed his hand, pulling him farther into the group. "It's okay to show sadness," she said soothingly. "Being sad isn't a weakness."

"What's going on?" came a female Russian voice from the open door. "Where's my-"

Everyone turned at the suddenness of her silence. Standing in the doorway was a ginger girl, looking about Toni's age. Her blue eyes were filled with fear and sadness, locking directly on the lifeless body of Natasha. "Natasha?" she mumbled, tears thickening her voice.

She walked, almost like she was in a trance, to the spy. She placed a hand on Nat's cold ones and started to weep.

Steve stood, being the natural leader of the group, and approached the girl slowly. "Who are you?" he asked softly. "Did you know Natasha well?"

The girl turned, tears still streaming down her face. "I knew Natasha very well," she said with more conviction than she looked to have had. She turned away and starred back at the spy. "She was my big sister."


	25. Chapter 25

It was unusually cold and damp for a July day, even for New York. Natasha's little sister, who they later found out was named Hetalia, turned out to be in the country about a job with the Avengers.

"Fury was looking to replace Nat before she even died?" Clint asked in shock.

Tony rolled his eyes as he wiped some machine grease off his face. "Of course. If something were to happen to their spy, they'd need a new one ASAP."

"But what if she had pulled through?"

Toni wiped grease off her face and tightened her pony tail. "They'd either have two spies, they'd tell the new kid to get out, or they'd give the new kid a different position."

Tony smiled slightly and wrapped an arm around his daughter. "I like this kid more and more everyday."

Loki sighed and continued to pace, a sign that he was trying extremely hard to understand what was going on. "But why would they hire their current spy's little sister?"

Hetalia cleared her throat and adjust herself in the overly comfortable chair. "Actually," she started, startling some with her accent. "They didn't know that I was her sister."

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked as she sipped from a cup of coffee.

The Russian stood and crossed her arms across her chest. "They didn't even know my real name. They just knew me under my professional name."

Tony leaned forward with interest. "Which is?"

"The Shadow," she said hesitantly.

"You're The Shadow?" Bruce asked in awe.

Hetalia only nodded as she ran a hand through her long, red hair.

"Who's The Shadow?" Toni asked. "I mean, I get that Hetalia is this person, but why are you guys so surprised?"

"She's called The Shadow because of how elusive and cunning she is," Clint said softly. "She puts all other spies to shame and has been doing so for nearly ten years. She's basically one of the best New Age vigilantes since Spider Man."

"And how old are you?" Brooke asked, mouth gaping slightly.

"Twenty," she replied.

"Holy shit," Brooke said breathlessly. "You're barely older than me, and I'm not even tumblr famous yet!"

Hetalia pulled on her sweater sleeve and looked down at her feet. "It's not something I exactly brag about," she said quietly as she continued to tug her sleeve.

Bruce noticed this tic and leaned towards her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Hetalia only shook her head. "I am sad about my sister's death," she replied bluntly. "Today is her funeral. I'm sad, doctor."

Bruce shrugged his shoulders and adjusted his black tie. "Right," he said uneasily.

The scene would've been a lot more beautiful if the clouds would've given them a bit more space, but nonetheless, Toni had not seen such a gorgeous piece of scenery since the little meadow in the woods by her mom's house.

Even with the overcast skies, the large cherry-blossom tree looked happy, even welcoming. The grass was the greenest green and treated with the upmost care. Different shades of red and pink flowers near the base of the hill broke up the green "monotony" and almost seemed to give a warning of the tree's brilliance. About three or four feet from the base of the tree sat a beautiful granite grave stone with Natasha's name on it.

The funeral itself was…uneventful, to say the least. But this? This was the most emotion that the Avengers collectively shown since Toni had come to the Tower. All eleven of them stood on the little hill, paying their respects.

Pamplemousse walked forward and put one hand on the gravestone and the other placed a brilliant blue carnation at the base of it. "I miss you already, Nat," she said quietly. "Bruce is my daddy now, so I'm happier, but I wish you could be happy with us."

The young girl walked away and Thor took her place, setting a pink carnation near the blue one. "I have never had a sister," the god started. "But you are the closest I have ever come to, and for that, I am thankful." Thor hung his head and stifled a sob. "Sleep well, my Shield Sister."

Thor felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Loki standing next to him, carnation in hand. Thor smiled weakly at his brother and stood alongside him. Loki kneeled down and placed the green flower next to Thor's. "I will never forget the times we had, Miss Romanoff," he said as he stared at the engraved name on the headstone.

The brothers then walked away, having Bruce take their place. "You won't be forgotten, Nat," he said simply as he set down a yellow carnation on top of Loki's.

Brooke and CJ, holding hands for support, were next to say goodbye. Brooke placed her white carnation next to Pamplemousse's and sniffled. "I wish…I wish it didn't have to be this way."

CJ set down her black carnation opposite of Brooke's, not saying anything as she did so.

Schaefer went next, placing a brilliant orange carnation on top of Pamplemousse's. "I vould've loved to meet you," he said quietly. "I've read all of Coulson's reports. You vere one of his pride and joy."

After, Tony and Toni walked up together and placed a red and a purple carnation, respectively. "You protected my daughter," Tony said as he started to tear up. "And for that, I couldn't be more thankful."

"Goodbye, Nat," Toni said quietly. "I'm sorry it had to end like…like this."

Her dad nudged her and helped her back to the rest of the group.

Hetalia went next, tugging slightly on her black sweater sleeve. "You've done more for me than I could ever tell," she said with her thick accent ringing true. "So I'll just say this one and only thing: I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, my sister." As the tears started to slide down her face, she set down the magenta carnation on top of all the others and walked away hesitantly.

Clint sighed and gripped the flower tightly in his hand as he walked forward. "Hey, Nat," he said quietly. "I, uh, I know you're not one for sentiment, but I got you this flower. It's…it's lilac, the color of that blouse you wore one night in Budapest. But I…I thought that, um, I would get you this, too." Clint, with tears starting to form in his eyes, pulled an arrow from out of his jacket sleeve and wrapped the stem gently around the shaft so the gorgeous blossom was near the point of the arrow. "It…it has your name on it," he said softly through the tears. "I know I can't be here every hour of everyday, but I thought I could at least be here in spirit with you, just as you'll be with us in spirit, too."

He leaned the arrow against the side of the grave stone and sighed, letting the sadness finally sink in. "I miss you already, Natasha."

The living room had been practically silent for nearly three hours. Nobody said a word and nobody dared to move. They had all just been sitting there for what seemed like an endless period of time.

Then, out of nowhere, Hetalia started to giggle quietly.

"What's so funny?" Clint asked.

"I am just remembering something that Natasha and I used to do as children before we became spies."

"And what would that be?"

Hetalia smiled and sat up a little straighter. "We would play house with our neighbor. Natasha always played the mom and the neighbor boy always played the dad. It was great fun. Then, one day, I told Natasha that I wanted to be the mom for once. And you know what? She let me! I was six years old, and I was telling Natasha what to do. After that, we never played house again."

"Why?" Clint asked, feeling a lot more light-hearted than before.

"That was when she was sent to her spy training," Hetalia replied simply.

Clint nodded and started to smile. "I remember this one time, while Nat and I were dating, we had been put on a mission together in Montreal. The mission was kind of a bust, so we just had, like, a month together in Canada. We spent the entire time skiing and building snow forts. It was like being a kid again."

Thor sat forward, a grin spreading across his face. "I remember once when the spy and I cooked a mighty feast one night for you holiday called Christmas. It was truly a delight!"

"You mean attempted to cook?" Bruce said with a smile. "Did you guys set the oven on fire?"

"No, no. That was for your holiday called Thanksgiving," Thor replied as he let his booming laugh resound through the house. "By Christmas, we had learned how to use your cooking appliances."

Toni laughed and shook her head. "I remember when I first met her, I was still wearing my cupcake pjs. I felt so ridiculous! I don't know if she even noticed."

"She did," Clint interjected. "She thought they were cute and wanted to know where you got them."

"Old Navy," Toni said with a smile. "They were on sale, too!"

Everyone in the living room burst out laughing and smiling, enjoying the memories of Nat. "I vish I vould've known her," Schaefer suddenly said. "Coulson and the rest of SHIELD seemed to be very fond of her."

"I can see why," Loki said, trying not to smile. "She was a pretty great person."


End file.
